Star Wars Secrets Unveiled: All You Need to Know from Our Critics this May 4th!

As “Star Wars” Day is just around the corner, it’s the perfect moment to revisit and evaluate The Times’ reviews of every movie and TV show within this constantly evolving, groundbreaking cosmic saga.

We’ve updated our 2015 compilation, which preceded the latest influx of “Star Wars” films and TV series that have endeared the franchise to a new generation of fans, to now include our reviews of the most recent additions to the “Star Wars” movie universe, as well as notable mentions of TV, streaming, and serial projects that have enriched our understanding of characters like Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Mandalorian, and his adorable sidekick Grogu.

Presented here, in chronological order within the “Star Wars” universe, are the reviews and features (some dating back quite a while) that were published in a newspaper in a galaxy not too far away…

Sommaire

‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’ (1999)

Kenneth Turan, former film critic for the L.A. Times who reviewed all three prequels, wasn’t particularly fond of “The Phantom Menace”. According to his review, it was apparent that this new addition to the saga was “targeted at younger viewers” and although it offered plenty of spectacle, it was “significantly devoid of warmth and humor.”

Review: The Prequel Has Landed

‘Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones’ (2002)

Turan was also not impressed with newcomer Hayden Christensen’s moody portrayal of Anakin Skywalker. He wrote that based on his performance in this film, it seemed that the young Canadian actor was chosen to play Anakin purely for his ability to project teenage rebellion, which he does quite a bit. Anakin grumbles about the limitations Obi-Wan imposes on him, complaining that his master is “overly critical, never listens, doesn’t understand, and that it’s not fair.”

Turan referred to the relationship between Anakin and his love interest Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) as “High School Confidential in Outer Space” and observed that their forbidden love was less troubling to them than their “striking lack of chemistry.”

Review: “When We Last Saw Our Heroes…”

‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ (2008)

Times staff writer Michael Ordoña described the feature film that sparked George Lucas’ computer-animated TV series as a “theatrical pilot for the upcoming animated television series” and commented that “anyone older than 8 with most of their cognitive functions will have a bad feeling about this.”

“Despite the potential for new characters, plot developments, and improved dialogue to redeem the film, ‘Clone Wars’ simply doesn’t aim high enough,” he wrote. “Those who had hoped for better writing than the last four films [‘Return of the Jedi’ to ‘Revenge of the Sith’] will have their hopes dashed on the intricately rendered rocks of Tatooine.”

However, despite the review, the TV series ran for seven seasons — first on Cartoon Network, then Netflix, and finally Disney+ — from 2008 to 2020. Moreover, “The Clone Wars” (both the film and series) introduced a number of key characters and lore that has proven crucial to the franchise in the Disney+ era.

Review: It’s a Weak Jedi Mind Trick

‘Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith’ (2005)

Turan began his review with a catchy pun: “‘Revenge of the Sith’ is a visual stunner, but beware of the talk side.”

Enough said.

Review: It Looks Hot…

‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ (2018)

After Turan left The Times in 2020, former film critic Justin Chang took over the task of reviewing the newer “Star Wars” films, including the less popular movie “Solo”. This film, which had a tumultuous production history involving the dismissal of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller and the recruitment of their replacement, Ron Howard, recounts how beloved rogue Han Solo won the infamous Millennium Falcon, met Chewbacca, and got his surname.

Chang wrote, “[Howard] and his collaborators (including screenwriters Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan) have cobbled together a high-speed, low-energy intergalactic heist movie, an opportunity to spend too much time with people you don’t care about and too little time with people you do.”

Review: ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Never Gets Off the Ground, But Don’t Blame Alden Ehrenreich

‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ (2022)

The former general and Jedi master, introduced in 1977’s “A New Hope” and whose backstory was explored further in 1999’s “The Phantom Menace”, embarked on his own space odyssey in this six-episode limited series on Disney+, starring Ewan McGregor.

Times staff writer Tracy Brown noted that for series co-writer Joby Harold, part of the thrill of the Disney+ series was exploring what could have happened between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope” for McGregor’s Kenobi to transform into the version portrayed by Alec Guinness. The series also pays a touching tribute to everyone’s favorite princess: “Leia’s role in ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ both expands her significance in the overall ‘Star Wars’ story and recontextualizes existing canon in a way that deepens Leia’s imprint on the saga,” Brown wrote.

Commentary: How Disney’s ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ changes Princess Leia’s legacy forever

‘Star Wars Rebels’ (2014)

Times television critic Robert Lloyd observed that the 2014 expression of the “Star Wars” brand appeared to be “designed to keep your attention until the arrival of the seventh live-action film.” The animated series debuted on the Disney Channel and was “the first tangible result of the incorporation of ‘Star Wars’ into the Walt Disney empire, and this is very much a Disney cartoon.”

“Though firmly rooted in the Lucas tradition, this is also a Disney cartoon, for a Disney audience and a Disney corporation — as you watch, you can almost feel the plastic and the plush — and regardless of the characters’ activities, no matter how cute or sentimental the business, it is cleverly designed and cinematically staged, and not difficult to enjoy.”

Review: Disney Is the Driving Force of ‘Star Wars Rebels’

‘Andor’ (2022)

The critically acclaimed Disney+ series “Andor” narrates the story of how Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) transforms from a disillusioned, self-centered thief to a committed resistance fighter willing to die for the cause, Brown wrote.

“By avoiding many of the familiar tropes and set pieces associated with the franchise, the series has pushed ‘Star Wars’ storytelling to new heights,” Brown said, and its political inclinations made the series must-see TV.

Commentary: ‘Star Wars’ Has Always Been Political. ‘Andor’ Made It Must-See TV

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ (2016)

Released in theaters a year after “The Force Awakens”, this fast-paced and consequential story was actually set approximately thirty years earlier and is a “swiftly paced, rough-and-ready entertainment that, in anticipating the canonical events of ‘A New Hope,’ manages the tricky feat of seeming at once casually diverting and hugely consequential,” Chang wrote.

“With the Death Star undergoing its final quality assurance tests, the evil Galactic Empire is very much on the rise. The Rebel Alliance is fractious and disorganized. And what initially seems like a zippy stand-alone adventure soon reveals itself as a grimly exciting prequel to the first, or should I say fourth, film in the series, ‘Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.’ (Think of the new movie, if you must, as ‘Star Wars: Episode III.V – Dawn of a New Hope.’)

Review: ‘Rogue One’ Adds an Uneven but Thrilling Wrinkle to the Mythology of ‘Star Wars’

‘Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope’ (1977)

The first-ever “Star Wars” film from director Lucas — originally titled simply “Star Wars” — was celebrated by the late Times critic Charles Champlin as “the year’s most razzle-dazzling family movie, an exuberant and technically astonishing space adventure in which the galactic tomorrows of ‘Flash Gordon’ are the setting for conflicts and events that carry the suspiciously but splendidly familiar ring of yesterday’s westerns, as well as yesterday’s ‘Flash Gordon’ serials.”

Review: ‘Star Wars’ Hails the Once and Future Space Western

‘Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)

Champlin fully embraced the spirit of the Force, lauding both the first film and this one for their optimism and more: “‘Star Wars’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ like all superior fantasies, have the quality of parable, not only on good and evil but on attitudes toward life and personal deportment and there is something very like a moral imperative in the films’ view of hard work, determination, self-improvement, concentration and idealism,” he wrote. “It does not take a savant to see that this uplifting tone only a little less than the plot and effects is a central ingredient of the wide outreach of the films.”

Review: In the ‘Star Wars’ Saga, ‘Empire’ Strikes Forward

‘Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi’ (1983)

We found someone who loved the Ewoks! The late Times movie critic Sheila Benson described the final film in the original trilogy as “blatantly irresistible” and lavished heaps of praise on the furry creatures from the moon of Endor.

Review: ‘Star Wars’ Continues With an Inventive ‘Jedi’

‘The Mandalorian’ (2019)

This high-budget, live-action series launched Disney’s streaming platform (and introduced us to the adorable “baby Yoda,” aka Grogu). Lorraine Ali, who was then a Times’ TV critic, deemed the show as “‘Star Wars’/Disney through and through, with its peculiar sand creatures and desolate outposts, and a safe but entertaining start” for Disney+.

“The premiere episode of the first live-action series in the ‘Star Wars’ universe is a direct descendant of the big-budget film franchise in both tone and execution. It’s long on impressive special effects and alien shootouts, and short on a fresh story line beyond the usual unwitting hero with a mysterious family tree and a destiny that involves saving the universe (or at least a part of it),” she wrote. “The series has the feel of a blockbuster movie — action-packed, predictable, entertaining — so it’s jarring when the first episode ends at around 35 minutes.”

Review: ‘The Mandalorian’ Is ‘Star Wars’ to the Core: A Safe, Entertaining Blockbuster

‘The Book of Boba Fett’ (2021-22)

The first spinoff of “The Mandalorian” centers on the fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett, who left a lasting impression despite only six minutes and 32 seconds of screen time and four spoken lines during the original trilogy, Brown wrote. (Well, the action figure was cool.)

Following the events of “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” tracks Fett (Temuera Morrison) as he asserts himself as the new crime lord among the local riffraff on Tattooine, alongside his loyal sidekick, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). The series also filled in some gaps about what Fett was doing between the events of “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” (1983) and his appearance in “The Mandalorian.”

Commentary: Boba Fett Had Four Lines in ‘Empire Strikes Back.’ How He Ended Up With His Own TV Show

‘Star Wars: Ahsoka’ (2023)

When Ahsoka Tano burst into Anakin Skywalker’s life as his newly assigned padawan apprentice in 2008’s animated “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” she irrevocably changed “Star Wars.”

Like her master, the teenager was reckless, impulsive, stubborn, and didn’t always adhere to the rules. She was also the first female Jedi protagonist who audiences got to see in action onscreen in a franchise that until relatively recently held the lightsaber-wielding users of the Force in the highest regard.

The next chapter in the character’s 15-year legacy was “Star Wars: Ahsoka,” which similarly broke new ground on the live-action side of the galaxy far, far away. Starring Rosario Dawson, the series boasts the first nonhuman “Star Wars” title hero as well as a core cast primarily composed of women. Both are representational milestones and examples of how “Star Wars” has become much more inclusive than it was when the original film premiered in 1977.

Commentary: ‘Ahsoka’ Proves That ‘Star Wars’ Has Long Been a Galaxy Where Women Can Be Heroes

‘Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens’ (2015)

Turan wrote that the most eagerly anticipated film since “Gone With the Wind” had an “inconsistent, haphazard quality to it” but was a “definite improvement” on the franchise’s “unsuccessful” second trilogy set, “The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones,” and “Revenge of the Sith.”

“‘The Force Awakens’ is only at its best sporadically, its success dependent on the mix of franchise veterans and newbies on the screen,” Turan wrote. “But ‘The Force Awakens’ is also hampered by casting missteps and scenes that are flat and ineffective. Sometimes the Force is with this film, sometimes it decidedly is not.”

At the box office, the Force was definitely with it. The film grossed $120.5 million on its opening day, and in 2016 it became the highest-grossing movie in U.S. history (at the time), without adjusting for inflation.

Review: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’: Was It Worth the Wait?

‘Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi’ (2017)

The franchise’s eighth official episode, directed by Rian Johnson, was hailed as “easily its most exciting iteration in decades” by Chang, who described it as “the first flat-out terrific ‘Star Wars’ movie since 1980’s ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’

“It seizes upon Lucas’ original dream of finding a pop vessel for his obsessions — Akira Kurosawa epics, John Ford westerns, science-fiction serials — and fulfills it with a verve and imagination all its own.”

Review: ‘The Last Jedi’ Brings Emotion, Exhilaration and Surprise Back to the ‘Star Wars’ Saga

‘Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker’ (2019)

“The Rise of Skywalker,” the frantic grand finale of the franchise’s third movie trilogy, “offers itself up in the spirit of a ‘Last Jedi’ corrective, a return to storytelling basics, a nearly 2½-hour compendium of everything that made