LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out Review

Can Cartoon Network's latest LEGO adaptation feel the Force?
It came as a pleasant surprise when Cartoon Network's first seasonal LEGO Star Wars animated special, The Padawan Menace, managed to be a genuine bonafida surprise hit, packing plenty of lore-spinning gags and goodwilled comedy to make it a stunning little episode. Well, fresh off the back of their success, the channel has bounced back with another adventure courtesy of Travellers' Tales, dubbed The Empire Strikes Out.

This new instalment takes place in the wake of A New Hope, with the Rebels attempting to find a new secret base while Luke and Han lead an attack on a Naboo Imperial stronghold. It all sounds like a rather mundane Star Wars spin-off, yet that's the beauty of the thing: once again, this brilliant special dares to defy expectations, throwing elements such as Darth Maul, Boss Nass and even Jar-Jar Binks into the mix, and best of all taking the frequent fan disapproval of those characters and transforming it into something of great taste and ironic satire. Sure, this fan inspired in-joke reel does inevitably mean that the target audience of LEGO-crazed kids may feel a little confused and unincluded at times, but it's all carried out with such aplomb and fun action sequences that they're unlikely to mind for long!

In-jokes can only go so far, though, and naturally things begin to wear just a tad thin come the climax of The Empire Strikes Out. Initially, the 'insane fan crowd' and Darth Maul-Death Star jokes feel light-hearted and substantial, yet in the concluding scenes their constant re-iteration will likely become a point of irk and tedium for the viewer. Nevertheless, LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out packs as much charm and satire as any fan of the saga as it stands in 2013 could want, highlighting some of the basic loopholes of the prequel trilogy that JJ Abrams will want to avoid, and indeed setting a grand precedent for the manner in which children's franchise storytelling such as this is handled from now on.
4.5/5
LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out hits DVD & Blu-Ray on Monday March 18th.