Star Wars Ewok Adventures - Caravan of Courage (aka The Ewok Adventure) / The Battle for Endor

Rating:
Summary: The decent Ewok Adventures
Review: These made for tv Ewok movies weren't that bad. I wish Lucas film would even release more made for tv movies with the StarWars universe after Episode 3. Well as long as we don't get...Jar-Jar Binks the movie. These are cute and harmless adventures. StarWars fans never really loved Ewoks that much but learned to not mind them that much after Jar-Jar. So releasing these movies now on dvd wasn't that bad of an idea. Some StarWars fans including myself actually have waited for them to be released.

The first movie is called Caravan of Courage and is about a boy "a wannabe Luke Skywalker" and his sister who get seperated from their parents. Their parents are being heald captive by a giant. The two kids meet the Ewoks who decide to help them get their parents back. This isn't a bad movie, it mixes adventure with fantasy and isn't bad entertainment for kids.

The second one is called the Battle for Endor. The girl from the first one is the only one left of her family after they are killed. Funny that her parents are killed right in the beginning of this one after all the trouble of rescueing them in the first one. Plus her brother who was the hero in the first dies right in the beginning as well. So all she has left is her Ewok friend Wicket (Warwick Davis). Together they meet a cranky old guy in the woods who takes them both in. He's played by Wilfred Brimley from Cocoon. He's really sweet of course and bonds with the girl. When she is taken by the Marauders that killed her parents. Brimley along with Wcket have to go save her and the captured ewoks. This is another one that's not bad.. The first had more of a story and had better creatures and better ideas though. The movie starts off dark but gets more lighter and more for kids as it goes along. Also the effects are kinda cheesey but back then they were great especially for a made for tv movie. I think they should've just made a Ewok show eventually. Fans had a long way to wait before the next StarWars movie so it wouldn't have been that bad for fans who were craving more StarWars.

Rating:
Summary: Battle for Endor was never "widescreen"
Review: E:tBfE was *not* shot in 1:2.35, or any other true widescreen format, and this is *not* a pan & scan transfer. The film image is flat 35mm, and was composed to work either in a full-screen TV format (as it's seen here), or the "cropped" 1:1.85 and 1:1.66 theatrical formats. I'm almost positive the same is true for CoC.

That being said, a little bit of letterboxing would have been nice.

Rating:
Summary: Ewoks Unite!
Review: Finally both classic TV shows on one great disc. Now the Ewok adventures can be enjoyed by a whole new clan of Star Wars fans. This single DVD has interactive menus and contains an entire feature on each side. (one note of correction, the liner notes indicates which side the movies are listed on, but on the actual DVD the movies are on opposite sides)

Special effects are decent, acting and script are as best as can be expected from a TV show made years ago, but c'mon it's a Lucas original story and it has...Ewoks in it!!!

This DVD makes a nice addition to any Star Wars collection.


Rating:
Summary: Better than the prequels
Review: I am an avid hater of the prequel films for reasons I will not go into right here, but I must say that these Ewok films somehow capture the feel of the Star Wars universe more than the prequels.

I remember seeing commercials for the first movie as a child and looking forward to it. The first movie is about a semisensient giant called the Gorax, who kidnaps two children's parents, the family having crash-landed on the remote forest moon of Endor. The kids wind up in the care of the Ewoks. They are furry, stone-level beings native to Endor. The kids and a "caravan of courage" go in search of the Gorax' lair, in an effort to rescue the parents.

In the second movie, a band of alien marauders -- in search of a nonexistant "power" -- attack the Ewok village, killing every human family member, save for the little girl, Cindel. Cindel and Wicket, an Ewok child, escape and wander the forest until they find a hut where an old human named Noa lives. Noa teams up with Cindel and Wicket to fight the marauders and their evil ally, a witch named Charal.

These movies were quite entertaining as a child, and I am anxious to see if I will enjoy them now. As for the problem with Wicket learning Basic (the English spoken in Star Wars), how do we know that the humans were speaking Basic? Perhaps they were speaking another human language, but to us, the viewers, it had to be in English so we could understand.

Cindel is actually mentioned in one of the Expanded Universe books. Twelve years after Return of the Jedi, she is a reporter for a news service.

I was perturbed at the death of Mace in the opening scenes of the second movie, as it was cool to have a young boy shooting blasters and fighting. You could imagine yourself in the role if you were close to Mace's age.

Rating:
Summary: Better these than the original films, right?
Review: I find it grimly ironic that LucasFilm Ltd et al are falling all over themselves to provide DVDs of these two Ewok TV shows in all their uncut glory, rather than, say, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Apparently, according to LFL spokesman Jim Ward, it's because there is such demand in the fan base for these Ewok films. Say what?

These two "films," effectively TV shows, aren't terrible, but they're pure 1980s drivel and are simply overrun with furry, reviled Ewoks that don't even have the benefit of turning into scaled horrors when dunked in water, unlike Mogwai. I mean, I'm pretty sure there are neon headbands involved. That's never a good sign.

Frankly I'm surprised Lucas hasn't chopped these things up into bits either to "get them to where he wanted if he'd had the appropriate technology at the time". Here are some desperately needed changes that the boys down in the CGI Revisionism Department could pump out in a day:

1) All the slain parents now appear as ghosts at the end of the films. However, they are not the ages the parents were when they died, but are children for some reason. This is accepted by all without question.

2) The brother never shoots first. In fact, he never shoots at all, and all blasters fatally backfire when triggered to demonstrate the perils of not sharing.

3) Instead of spears, the Ewoks all wield harmless flashlights.

4) Both films are narrated by beloved Lucas brainchild Jar Jar Binks. In fact, he dubs all the character lines too.

5) At the end of each film, Gungans are shown celebrating for some reason.

6) A CGI Yoda bounds constantly around the landscape like Clay Aiken on speed, spouting hip phrases like "tubular to the max, dude," and "jam the pipe to the extremez!"

7) As a consequence of the massively saccharine nature of the proceedings, a new "PG-0" rating is instituted, which means the films are suitable for playing against the stomachs of expectant mothers to better inculcate their children to a lifetime of mindless unquestioning grasping at the LucasFilm teat.

8) Every human being who manages to do something is discovered to have billions of "midichlorians" and to be the result of an immaculate conception, presumably by God himself.

9) Every tenth frame is a Hyperspace logo.

10) The DVDs come with special, patented LFL "CGI Cancer", which spreads from scene to scene over the course of your ownership of the DVDs, gradually turning them into episodes of "The Thundercats". Only a monthly payment of $9.95 to LucasFilm temporarily arrests this process.

Rating:
Summary: As unworthy of the Star Wars name as Episodes I and II
Review: I hate to go against the flow here, but these movies are grade-A tripe. I suppose my opinion may partly be influenced by the fact that I find the Ewoks annoying, ugly, and painfully unarticulate in the first place, but the fact of the matter is that the acting was horrendous, the special effects were amateurish at best, and the writing (both the premise and the dialogue) were unbearable. This DVD simultaneously embodies everything I hate about children's movies, the 80's, and low-budget telivision with big-name backing. It didn't even seem consistent with the Star Wars universe: the Ewoks understand English, and the humans understand the Ewok language; one character had the ability to metamorphose (much more in the realm of fantasy than science fiction); and the characters were dressed in hokey 80's-era spaceman garb.

And even regardless of all that, it's a known fact that former childhood gems get more and more ridiculous the older we get; and kids would quite generally rather watch a contemporary crappy kid's flick than an old one. These movies, therefore, have no valid, sane audience, and ought to be relegated to local video store's bargain bin.

Rating:
Summary: Why "FOOLSCREEN"?
Review: I have been eagerly awaiting this DVD release, but when I finally saw the box at a local store, I just wanted to break it in half. Why am I the only one who has a problem with the fact that this DVD is only available in Pan-and-Scan and not widescreen? Despite the fact that these films were intended to be released on television here in the States, they were actually released theatrically overseas... and they WERE originally filmed in widescreen (2.35:1 aspect ratio I believe for the first movie). Why then did Fox begin to think we'd be interested in cropped-for-TV versions of these now classic films? The simple fact that they didn't bother with a 5.1 audio mix should have been enough of a clue as to how lazy they were with this release.

I loved these movies when I was a kid, and would probably still like them if I saw them again, but I'm sure as hell not going to waste my money on this turkey of a release.

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!! Go write letters to Fox and demand they release a proper version.

Rating:
Summary: Buy These Kid-Friendly Movies!
Review: Looking for a movie to show your restless children?
Want them to watch something you don't have to censor every five minutes?

They will love this new disc starring the Ewoks-those infamous teddy bear like warriors from Return of the Jedi- in two action packed made for TV movies taking place on Endor.

Live action all the way, this is a must for your kids' collection.
Order your copy today!

Rating:
Summary: Good for Children and Star Wars Collectors (3 1/2 Stars)
Review: The Ewok movies finally arrive on DVD in a single, bare-bones release. They are on a single double-sided disc, the main problem I find with this being that it lowers the audio level quality. They are not presented in Dolby 5.1 and contain no extras. These movies may have the distinct look of 80s TV movies but the picture quality is very good on DVD. I do not know if a future release will ever come out on widescreen since they were originally released on TV.

These movies will mainly appeal to young children, though it contains elements that may frighten them such as human deaths (not graphically shown) and monster villains. However, the younger characters are the heroes here and the Ewoks are basically the kind teddy-bear companions to the lead human characters- a young girl and her older teenage brother.

Older viewers may find the movies slow going at times and there is a distinct lack of technology and major visual effects sequences such as space battles- something Star Wars is famous for. This is mainly set in a forest environment.

Followers of Star Wars will notice discrepancies such as a lack of certain Ewok characters, the smaller number of Ewoks used, or the slightly different look to Wicket- who is still appealing as the young Ewok who helps the stranded children. Also of note, the giant redwoods of California used for "Return of the Jedi" are absent (I heard they were chopped down for logging soon after filming).

These are simple good vs. evil adventures with basic plotting and fantasy elements set in the time just before the Ewoks met the characters of Star Wars. And they do not have the huge budget and effects of the Star Wars movies.

As I said, children will find these appealing. Others may not enjoy these cheaper, simpler TV movies. By the end of it, they may also suffer from Ewok overload! However, these movies are at this time the only other Star Wars movies outside of Episodes I-VI.





Rating:
Summary: blue harvest title
Review: to the fella that mentioned blue Harvest--that was the code title for Return of the Jedi when they were filming it on location, so fewer lookie-loos would be aware they were filming a star wars movie.