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For its yearly special occasion, Lucasfilm has returned once more to the Star Wars universe to give fans a breath of fresh air. In the midst of expanding its canon history, Star Wars: Visions is back with another volume of animated shorts featuring acclaimed studios from across the world. Composed as an anthology series with diverse stories, Visions continues to bring a new light to such interesting concepts in a time where Star Wars tried to find its footing. Luckily, this series serves as proof that storytelling in the franchise can be much more than what fans may have seen in this new age.
The second volume of Star Wars: Visions features studios some viewers may recognize including El Guiri, Cartoon Saloon, Punkrobot, Aardman, Studio Mir, Studio La Cachette, 88 Pictures, Triggerfish, and D’art Shtajio. Each short not only takes on a unique visual style to clearly envision their reality, but also incorporate tonally different themes within these characters to build their stories. This volume may have something for everyone to enjoy as these shorts focus on a variety of topics and ideas within the Star Wars lore. In doing so, I’ll be taking a closer look at what I personally enjoyed from the volume while still providing my own perspective overall.
In El Guiri‘s Sith, the short focusing on Lola’s (Ursula Corbero) quest to resist the embracement of the dark side. Rodrigo Blaas’ artistic vision combines traditional CG animation with the physical techniques of oil painting. In doing so, it is able to construct its action in a way that creates personality in Lola’s division between her devotion to the light and her ties to the past. The short puts its 3D-2D art style on full show, highlighting these strokes of bright colors and darker blots to realize Lola’s own mastering of the balance between good and evil. The villains may also feel intimidating as they throw the story into action after the first act, giving a rush of energy to this short as Lola and her droid tries to escape this evil-ridden landscape. Overall, a solid visual piece that is wonderfully pleasing to absorb with an identifiable message.
Cartoon Saloon‘s Screecher’s Reach showcases the adventure of a group of kids who want to escape their smoke-ridden reality. Paul Young’s 2D world almost feels steampunk-like while mixing in the feelings of awe and wonder from the cosmos and dread and terror of the dark. The short’s tone goes from lighthearted peace and calm to absolute horror thanks to the ethereal entity the group faces, the Screecher, which serves as a clear representation of the unknown. The short seems to embrace putting its horror aspects into the spotlight, with a coming-of-age story that’s more darker than what’d you expect from stories like this. With the voices of Eva Whittaker, Alex Connolly, Noah Rafferty, Molly McCann, Niamh Moyles, and Anjelica Huston provide the right amount of energy in this piece, this short serves more as a emotionally gripping piece which certainly hit me harder than it should have.
Aardman‘s I Am Your Mother brings the traditional style and tone of the studio to the Star Wars universe. In a short that focuses on family-oriented ideas, it brings this relativity of the mother-daughter dynamic in this comical, yet sweet story from Magdalena Osinska. While the short does bring out Aardman’s classic comedy out in certain parts, it doesn’t fear to develop an emotional aspect to show how the work of familial distancing. The voice work of Charithra Chandran, Maxine Peake, and Denis Lawson (the real life Wedge Antilles) gives this short a certain joyous charm that Aardman has mastered. Albeit, the emotional core may feel like its placed on the backburner sometimes in favor of prioritizing certain elements, but it certainly will be enjoyed by families that enjoy the world of Star Wars from a fresh perspective.
In Studio Mir‘s Journey to the Dark Head, this world’s story centers around changing the tides of war by cutting off the physical head of darkness. While this short may at first feel narratively simple, it slowly builds itself up through focusing on the inner demons of light and dark within Jedi Padawan Toul (Eugene Lee Yang). His emotional past begins to mesh with Ara’s (Ashley Park) present to create this spiritual and physical battle the two must face together. The artistic schema of a moody purple mixed with neon reds and blues all but reinforces the idea that the balance between these contrasting elements will always exist and the short’s story plays out as so. With the additional voices of Albert Kong, Daniel Dae Kim, Greg Chun, Jonella Landry, and Judy Alice Lee, this visually grand, yet tonally personal short is able to invigorate a special feeling that fans will enjoy from the battles of the Jedi and the Sith.
While these four beautiful shorts, visually and tonally, are what I’ve enjoyed the most, this volume consists of many different pieces that anyone can enjoy. Punkrobot‘s In the Stars 3D/stop-motion short is a curious spectacle of what hope and perseverance can lead to in the face of imperialism. Meanwhile, Triggerfish‘s Aau’s Song is a colorful little piece on finding the spiritual harmony in the Force through a song of unity. There are also more great shorts from the likes of D’art Shtajio, 88 Pictures, and Studio La Cachette, providing distinct visual worlds with various special tones that round out this volume with their unique touch.
Overall, this volume of Star Wars: Visions sparks a new hope, with such acclaimed animation studios creating these astounding stories in worlds far beyond the main mythos. Visions has managed to be the guiding light that the franchise needs to have a stronger focus on and there is no doubt that this series could lead Lucasfilm out of the dark.
Each studio, and their respective short, is able to utilize their own uniqueness in building these worlds that allows for more deeper exploration of its tone and themes. However, should this series await itself another return in the future, I will always know that Visions is a looming reminder of what the franchise can truly accomplish.
★★★★½
The second volume of Star Wars: Visions is now streaming on Disney+.
