“Goodbye not good.”

After the endurance test that was Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, I really didn’t know what to expect from Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, which is a direct sequel to that. It had better reviews, not that much better, but at least better, and a supposedly darker tone, but I was also kind of anticipating this one to be a bit of a drag as well. After finishing it, I’m almost positive that the negative reception thrown at this entry is mostly just people’s thoughts on the previous film carried over (at least in my opinion).

Pretty much from the get-go, it was made clear that this movie was taking itself a lot more seriously and was, in fact, a lot darker, while still definitely being aimed at children at the end of the day. However, I found that I was significantly, and I mean significantly, more invested in this story than I was in Caravan of Courage, where in that film I simply didn’t care at all. There are actual villains this time around that feel like they pose a real threat to our central characters, the focus this time around being more on Cindel (the younger sister from the previous film) and Wicket, who, by the way, is awesome here, instead of the incredibly annoying character that was the older brother, Mace. While the “evil plan” revealed later in the film that the central villain and his sort of little army have is quite silly, at least they still feel like a force to be reckoned with.

I think the most notable upgrade here is, in fact, our two leads, Cindel and Wicket. Cindel is actually given stuff to do, and not just “there,” and kind of annoying as she was before, and is honestly fairly compelling all things considered. There is an emotional hook right in the opening sequence that sets up a pretty compelling arc for her that, while the movie definitely moved on from the opening way too quickly, made her a much more interesting protagonist. The actress who plays her also shockingly improved with her performance this time around, even though this movie was made pretty shortly after Caravan of Courage.

Wicket is also adorable and an extremely fun little sidekick for her. He does speak English quite often, which definitely takes some time to get used to, but I found it to be more of him “learning” it, almost kind of like a toddler, rather than being able to fully understand it. I’ve seen conflicting reports from different sources on where this story, as well as the first movie, takes place in the timeline (some say before Return of the Jedi, and some say after), and while there are articles such as Wookieepedia, which is essentially the definitive source for Star Wars information, that say this takes place before Return of the Jedi, I think that if you watch both of these movies, it feels far more likely that it takes place after, not only because of how Wicket acts, but just where the Ewok species are as a whole.

Amongst our main characters is a new character named Noa, an older man who is also trapped on the forest moon of Endor, and serves as the sort of mentor figure to both Cindel and, to a certain extent, Wicket. He is played by none other than Wilford Brimley, who played Blair in John Carpenter’s The Thing, one of my favorite movies of all time, so seeing him was definitely a cool surprise, as I didn’t know he was even in this film. He was also in the infamous “diabeetus” commercials. He was quite easily the best character here, as he just added an element of charm and fun to what would have been a weirdly bleak and tonally off movie otherwise. He starts off as the somewhat cliché “old grumpy man that has way more heart to him than he will actually admit,” and eventually becomes a really compelling character by the end. I think he was very well played by Brimley as well.

The last thing I will say here is that the production is noticeably better than it was in Caravan of Courage. Caravan of Courage had a budget of three million dollars, which was quite expensive for a TV movie, and while you could definitely see some of that budget on screen, it still definitely didn’t feel very “cinematic.” One thing that I forgot to mention in my review of that movie was that there was some pretty poorly done narration, which only made it feel somehow even less cinematic than it already did. Thankfully, the narration is completely removed in The Battle for Endor, and on top of that, it just feels far more like an actual movie, with much more ambitious sets, costumes, and practical effects. The budget this time around was five million dollars, and you can definitely see that. It’s also shot far more competently, the actors are directed way, and I mean way, better, and while it obviously doesn’t feel like the same level of production quality as a movie like Return of the Jedi, it definitely does feel more like it belongs in the same universe.

One thing that has a bit of a positive and negative side to it is that this definitely does feel more like Star Wars, but also has some weird out-of-universe feeling shenanigans as well. The stop motion creature practical effects, the locations/sets, and the action feel way more like what you would expect from a Star Wars experience, but at the same time, there is some weird magical stuff thrown in there, just like the first movie, that just doesn’t feel like it belongs in the world of Star Wars. I can definitely get around it and kind of think of it as this fantastical aspect that is more just part of the forest moon of Endor, rather than the whole universe itself, but I can definitely see it bugging a lot of viewers.

I only really have one pure negative, and while it is only one, it is definitely enough to keep The Battle for Endor from being any better than the score I gave it. While the pacing is definitely much better than in Caravan of Courage, it still very much has that “episodic, made to watch in between commercials” feel to it. It’s far less egregious because there is a plot and narrative that I actually cared about, but it’s still very much present nonetheless. I was never really bored, however, there are times in the runtime where it kind of feels like the story is being padded out just a bit. Again, though, a major improvement over Caravan of Courage in this regard.

This was honestly a pretty pleasant surprise for me after the pretty awful experience that was its predecessor; it’s just unfortunate that it’s the sequel, so you kind of have to watch, or rather, get through the first one to get everything out of this entry. Still, a really solid experience overall that I had a very good time with.