“Sand, right? It gets everywhere.”

So far, I have had a pretty good time, all things considered, with the other two LEGO Star Wars specials. Holiday Special was a pretty big pleasant surprise, and while Terrifying Tales was a rather significant step down, which I ended up being mediocre on overall, it still absolutely had its moments and was enjoyable enough. That being said, Summer Vacation seemed to have the least positive feedback from what I had seen online, so I was expecting it to be the weakest of the three. While it definitely wasn’t as good as Holiday Special, I did actually enjoy it quite a bit more than Terrifying Tales.

It does have a similar storytelling approach to the first two, in that a lot of it is told through flashbacks, but this time they are different. The other two specials’ flashbacks were much more “alternative history” kind of stuff, where either scenes we know and love or lore that we have come to know well were portrayed in a different way, whereas this time the flashbacks are a lot more original, which was a nice change of pace. There are three main ones: one that focuses on Obi-Wan Kenobi, one that focuses on Vader and Palpatine, and the best one by quite a bit, the one that focuses on Ben Solo, along with his relationship with his parents, Han and Leia.

One thing that really stood out to me about this special was that while Holiday Special had the best humor overall, Summer Vacation definitely had the best humor and comedic bits that didn’t rely solely on nostalgia or any kind of direct references, while there are still definitely some that are there every once in a while. It’s not necessarily laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s sure to put a grin on your face from time to time, which I think is what these smaller LEGO projects do best, all things considered. Again, like Holiday Special, there are a few parts that are a bit on the corny side; the main one that I wasn’t really a fan of was when Obi-Wan sings at Jabba’s Palace (it was in the trailer), but the corny jokes are few and far between in comparison to the ones that really do work.

There is one thing that I really, really enjoyed about this special that probably stood out to me the most overall, but also rather frustrated me in a way, not because of this special itself, but because of how Disney Lucasfilm has handled Star Wars over the last decade. While these specials clearly aren’t canon, and clearly never could be, they actually dive into both more of Ben Solo’s childhood, alongside his relationship with his parents, and give further character development to Finn as both a potential Jedi and character overall, whereas The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker completely neglected that development, at least in a satisfying manner. As cheesy as it may sound for a kids’ LEGO special that aired on Disney Plus, some of the moments between Ben and Han and Leia were generally sweet, and the somewhat mini character arc that Finn has was actually rather compelling, especially with him talking to numerous different Force ghosts. It’s pretty baffling to say the very least, that LEGO, of all things, has done more with Ben Solo’s past and Finn’s overall development than Disney Lucasfilm has since The Force Awakens.

I honestly don’t really have any significant negatives with this special as a whole, with the only minor ones being the ones that I already mentioned. The only thing that some people might not like as much about Summer Vacation that was definitely a lot more present in the other two specials is that this is definitely the least “plot” driven of the three, and yes, I use the word “plot” very loosely for the other two. Instead, Summer Vacation is much more focused on characters, and honestly, I think that worked really well in its favor. There was definitely some character work and development in Holiday Special and, to a much poorer extent, Terrifying Tales, but none to the degree of Summer Vacation.

In addition to that, inevitably, there isn’t as much action or fan service, either, which also wasn’t an outright negative for me because I didn’t find that they were super needed this time around. For some, though, they will probably miss the fun lightsaber duels and big easter eggs (which there are still some easter eggs), and I can very much understand that. However, I was just a big fan of what LEGO did character-wise, and that was what I admired about this special so much.

So, after watching all three LEGO Star Wars Disney Plus specials, would I consider them to be high art or “cinema?” No, but then again, that’s extremely clearly not what they are going for, either. Sometimes we just need a good and harmless fun time, and that’s what these specials excel at and deliver the most, especially with the divided Star Wars fanbase that we fans currently live in, unfortunately. I honestly wish LEGO did or eventually does more of these.