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.
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.