This movie is surprisingly dark at times, and for no clear reason. It doesn't explore the dark things that happen very much (there is one "dream"-scene which is the exception to this),and it's not really necessary to the plot. There would be plenty of ways to write around it. I don't mind a movie like this having dark sides (see what I did there?),but if you don't explore them or put them to use, they serve no purpose, and is only in the way of the story.

But fair enough, lets look away from that. The movie follows Cindel and Wicket - both feeling more like sidekicks than they do protagonists. They end up in trouble a couple of times, and after a while meet Teek and Neo. These are more like side characters, the good helpers the hero meets on his way. The four of them works as a group in a sense, but even when they have a clear purpose, it feels like they have no aim. I think the movie wants Wicket to be the main hero of this movie. It's hard to have clumsy and heroic characters at the same time, but it is possible.

The story is not really that interesting, and some of the plot elements in the movie feels a bit out of place, especially the ring and the witch-like Charal-character. It all builds up to the final battle for Endor, which is an obvious attempt to capture the magic from Star Wars episode VI. The battle is alright, but because neither the heroes nor the villains are particularly interesting, the big battle itself doesn't really grab a hold of you.

Like in the previous Ewok film, the most interesting part are the visuals. This movie has some nice stop motion, especially the creatures the marauders ride. I also quite like the Teek character. Some of the scenes with him running are great fun.

While I appreciate what they tried to do here: give the story some gravitas, create an ensemble of interesting characters on a quest, risking everything for each other, etc. etc. - it just doesn't work, and the charm from the previous movie is not to be found in this one. At least not as strongly.

So this is another made for television Star Wars movie which is far better than the infamous and dreaded Star Wars Holiday Special which was so low budgeted that it look like a high school production. This movie however has much more funds added to it and therefore it has a better feeling of Star Wars to it. They definitely made it for the family and the kids. It is meant to be a tame production. Go Team Ewok!

I sat down in 2021 to watch the 1985 "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor" with my 11 year old son, as I assumed that this was definitely a Star Wars movie for kids. However, I wasn't really expecting that we were in for a sort of mash-up between "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" and "Willow". But that was exactly how "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor" felt to me.

And while it might be aimed at a younger audience, you might have to keep in mind that there is a fair amount of action and semi-violence on the screen. And there is a distinct pseudo-dark atmosphere to the movie, which may prove a bit unsettling to a younger audience, I think.

The storyline told in "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor", as written by Ken Wheat, Jim Wheat and none other than George Lucas himself was pretty straight forward. Though, it should be noted, that the storyline wasn't really overly memorable or indulging. It felt like a cheesy laid-back movie aimed at a younger audience, but at the same time trying to cash in on the success of Star Wars and have some appeal to the adult audience that grew up watching the original trilogy.

Visually then "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor" wasn't actually all that bad. Sure, the stop motion animation footage with the creatures was hopelessly outdated by today's standards, but it was still watchable. It was definitely a blast to see the screen debut of the blurrg creatures, that were later risen to stardom in "The Mandalorian" series. They moved like horrible rigid dolls, but it was still fun to watch. And of course it was the ewoks that stole the show in "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor"; could it have been any other way? For me, it was definitely a nice treat to see the ewoks milling about on the screen in this 1985 movie. And the visuals on the raiders, whatever race they were supposed to be, were definitely also good and fit right into the Star Wars galaxy of strange alien creatures.

It was nice to have Warwick Davis return to reprise the role of the lovable character Wicket. But I just don't understand the fact that they made him capable of speaking English. Sure, for the sake of entertaining the kids watching it. But come on, at least have kept it like they did in "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" where he didn't speak English, but communicated in the jibberish ewok language and by gesturing.

I never would have guessed that I would ever see Paul Gleason make an appearance into the "Star Wars" universe, but here he was, playing the character named Jeremitt.

Then there were the issues with horses on the forest moon of Endor! Wait, what? Seriously? Yeah, they had horses running around here. And there was a woman sorceress of some sort whom could turn into a crow. No. That was just downright bad and set in the wrong universe. Hence the mutated hybrid feel of the "Willow" movie. It was just misplaced in "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor".

And while on the topic of Endor, then there wasn't that particular distinct feeling of a vast forest moon present in "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor", not like what we saw in "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi", as there were vast plains and mountains here as well.

"Ewoks: The Battle for Endor" is enjoyable for what it was, love it or hate it. I found it to be a watchable enough foray, but it didn't capture that essence of "Star Wars" as seen in parts IV, V and VI, nor in the subsequent movies and series that followed.

My rating of "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor" lands on a mere four out of ten stars, given the fact that it felt more like a movie set in the universe where the movie "Willow" took place, than it felt like a "Star Wars" movie.