Jude Law shakes up a mundane ‘Star Wars’ spectacle

Way back when Lucasfilm first shared plans to expand the “Star Wars” universe via live streaming television, the most exciting part was its limitless potential. Even though every movie travels to new worlds, uses new gadgets, and reveals new creatures, there’s always a limit to how much of the galaxy you can see in a two-hour movie. And that time limit only tightened when so much screen time was taken up by nostalgia: revisiting old worlds, reintroducing old creatures, and brandishing old gadgets. But unlike the big-screen franchise, not everything on the small screen had to fall back on the Skywalker trilogy — or so it seemed, before “The Mandalorian” reintroduced Luke himself and sets plans to become a full-fledged film.

“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” is the closest the Disney+ era has come to revisiting the creative potential of the franchise on a galactic scale. Working from the story of a motley crew of makeshift pirates bouncing between solar systems, looking for home and adventure in equal measure, the fantasy series from Jon Watts and Christopher Ford can apparently go anywhere and do anything. This is not a prequel fleshing out established characters while building on previously described events. This is not a sequel indebted to the planets, people, or parts of its previous entries. This is a “Star Wars” series about pirates – explorers bound to nothing and reporting to no one, their ship not even limited by gravity. Its proverbial mainsail should be untied, and this “skeleton crew” should be free to explore new worlds unseen, unheard and unimaginable.

Eh, not so much – or, at least, not yet. “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” gets off to a depressingly familiar start, while missing the introduction of its main protagonists and generally progressing until Jude Law appears in Episode 2. The suave rascal supports a ship that takes water, and the second and third episodes (of the eight-episode first season) pick up pace as their imaginations swell (thanks, in part, to director David Lowery). But even though the wind remains at their backs, “Skeleton Crew” seems to be stuck in an all-too-familiar pond, which makes for a frustrating life for anyone drawn to the open ocean – or, as it were, the open sky.

Meet Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), a college-aged boy who dreams of becoming a Jedi. He plays with Jedi figurines. He reads Jedi history books (via an electronic tablet). He finds a large piece of metal buried in the woods and assumes it is a lost Jedi temple. In other words, Wim is a dreamer, surrounded by pragmatists. Raised by a single father who always works, Wim is told to do his homework and stay out of trouble – two common commands that few children are able to follow consistently, and Wim is not one of them. Instead of preparing for the career assessment test that has the whole school worried, Wim lets his curiosity get the better of him and heads back into the woods.

At Wim’s side, through thick and thin, is his best friend, Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), a blue elephant boy with a stubby trunk, wispy hair that looks like raspberry cotton candy, and ears that flop over his shoulders. Neel is the panicked but supportive sidekick, one of the first bright signs that “Skeleton Crew” doubles as a homage to the “Goonies” (Neel = Chuck), and what a fondness you have for Richard Donner’s children’s classic from 1985, dear readers, may dictate your tolerance for conventional “Skeleton Crew” scripts. Are they a gentle throwback or predictable and mundane? You could say it’s all new to audiences of a certain age group, except I can think of at least one kids’ show released in the last six months that treads very similar ground.

But I digress: waiting for Wim and Neel in the woods, two rivals destined to become friends, Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and KB (Kyriana Kratter) – two girls who are also best friends, also students at the Wim’s school, and They are also inhabitants of the bland bourgeois neighborhood that Wim lives in. All we really know about Fern and KB is that they like to race flying motorcycles, are very handy with tools, and that Fern’s mother is a high-ranking government official who worried about maintaining her daughter’s “higher” social status (probably because Fern is hurting her). better impression of James Dean, although a more overtly hostile interpretation of the rebel Jim Stark).

More importantly, we know that none of these kids fit neatly into the boring domestic landscape of “Star Wars” suburbia. KB wears a La Forge visor and stays alone; Fern has an attitude that screams, “I don’t play by the rules”; Neel is blue and Wim zigs every time he is asked to zag. Only Neel has an idyllic home life, which further unites the quartet in an Amblin-era quest to repair their families by tearing them apart. In the end, parents will understand their children better, children will understand each other better, and everyone will understand each other better.

But again, I digress: as the children are drawn (literally) into a space adventure, Wim moves closer to the life he so desperately wants instead of the one he has: that of a Jedi. When he finally meets Jude Law’s mysterious Jod Na Nawood, the older man’s perceptive demeanor, hooded appearance, and mastery of the Force leave no doubt in Wim’s mind: Jod is a Jedi. It must be. Not only is there plenty of evidence, but this is a “Star Wars” story – doesn’t there have to be a Jedi?

Evoking “Andor” and its story without a lightsaber is perhaps the most promising aspect of “Skeleton Crew,” and I can only hope that it continues to move in that direction, toward its own distinct voice. Episodes 2 and 3 throw a lot at the audience, bypassing the capital-A acting of its child stars (which Law helps combat with his tailored, assured performance) by ramping up the action and unveiling a multitude of distinct species and rich decorations. The environments are colorful and lively. Events unfold at a playful and enjoyable pace. There’s a lot to see and not a lot of time to see it (as it should be).

But the series doesn’t fully commit to the tactile pleasures of Andor’s production design or the pyrotechnic light shows of digital battles past. Taken together, the CGI and practical effects seem more disaffecting than immersive, even if the idea of ​​overwhelming viewers with an unfamiliar ambiance is a good one. These children have never seen anything like this on their sheltered homeworld, and attempting to imitate their awed reaction in front of the audience is admirable. Perhaps it could even work if the staging was mixed more convincingly, but as it stands, there’s a strange disconnect that leaves the series adrift between having and realizing its own imagination. The excitement I felt when I first spotted an owl-like alien character flying into frame slowly and steadily deepened as its CGI design and practical environment prove awkwardly incongruous.

That being said, if the creators have their hearts in the right place – trying to innovate in each new episode – then “Skeleton Crew” still has a chance to bridge the gap. Lowery’s skills are a perfect fit, and the “Pete’s Dragon” director creates a thrilling escape sequence from a bustling interstellar pit stop. Future directors shouldn’t be short of creative inspiration either – not with The Daniels (“Everywhere All at Once”) helming episodes 4 and 6 overseen by Lee Issac Chung (who directed an episode of “The Mandalorian” between his feature film “Minari” and “Twisters”).

When it comes to any new “Star Wars” project, experience has taught us that the key question is not talent, but whether true ingenuity can thrive under Disney’s heavy hand. The more “Star Wars” develops, the more “Star Wars” stays the same, and the structural clichés guiding “Skeleton Crew” imply an equally rigid path to follow. We can only hope for a true rebellion – one worthy of the original ideals of a pirate and the original idea of ​​“Star Wars.”

Grade: C+

“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” premieres Monday, December 2 at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+. New episodes will air weekly on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.