Just ahead of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special's imminent arrival, reviews are pouring in, providing auspicious signs for the short offering.
The one-shot, part of a two-pronged coda for director James Gunn's Marvel Cinematic Universe work on the Guardians franchise, is earning critical praise. It apparently evokes an appropriate sanguine seasonal spirit while maintaining the unique ragtag character of the space crew audiences remember as "a bunch of a-holes." Indeed, Variety's review indicates that "it pays homage to the nostalgic tropes of Christmas specials that make you want to cozy up next to the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate -- and a stack of Marvel comic books, because this is the MCU, after all." ComicBook.com echoes that sentiment, stating, "What Gunn has crafted is pretty sentimental, joyful, and could really inspire some holiday cheer. As with all his other projects, the director masterfully creates a Christmas playlist that fits right in with the MCU and sets itself apart from other holiday films."
Guardians of the Galaxy Gets Footloose
Moreover, while the focus remains on the holiday woes of de facto protagonist Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Holiday Special is reaping praise for providing a spotlight to characters who spent the past few years of MCU offerings being ignored, namely Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff). This aspect is notably affirmed by IGN. "Just as Gunn took a formerly despicable character in Peacemaker and made him into a believably sympathetic protagonist in his HBO Max series, he takes Mantis -- previously mostly just a background character -- and gives her more complexity and layers with the help of Klementieff’s endearing performance," the video game outlet lauds.
Additionally, the initially rough dynamic between Drax and Mantis established in 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 evolves into something heartwarming, becoming the center of a wild caper to cheer up their depressed human skipper by abducting the actor Kevin Bacon (who plays himself). CBR's own review of the Holiday Special takes the wild idea six degrees further, calling Bacon "the real MVP" of the program. It explains, "He's quick to poke fun at himself and his experience as an actor and shifts between terrified and chipper in a heartbeat."
Of course, with the special focused on the Guardians team -- and it being a James Gunn product -- there will be plenty of evocative irreverence and intriguing pop culture call-outs to go around. Case in point, the American alternative country band Old 97's show up, made up as a group of alien musicians who would fit in perfectly onstage in Star Wars' Mos Eisley cantina. Here, however, the group provide a pivotal track for the tone, titled "I Don't Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here)." Yet, seeing as the very plot of the special involves alien superheroes coming to Earth to kidnap Footloose star Kevin Bacon to deliver him as a living, breathing Christmas gift, the irreverence angle arguably goes without saying.
Yet, the holiday nostalgia factor also apparently extends to director Gunn himself. That's because Collider's B-rating review observes that it "shows us how wonderful Gunn is as a storyteller when he’s given more flexibility and smaller stakes. We’ve seen what he can do with fewer restrictions with the DCEU, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen his talents in a PG-13 setting like this, and it still works incredibly well." However, The Verge -- which has nice things to say about the special -- points out that, for all its family-friendly joy, Holiday Special is still too tethered to the greater MCU and sowing its franchise seeds. "So instead of a nice little Christmas adventure, the special feels like a holiday-themed prologue to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," the review observes. "Perhaps that’s to be expected; it’s the Marvel way, after all."
Regardless, the fun Christmas chaos depicted here will indeed lead directly into the (somewhat) more serious business of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. That film will not only serve as a bittersweet farewell to the MCU franchise but see director Gunn off to his new job as the co-head of the newly codified DC Studios, for which he will develop films and shows for the DC Universe.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special premieres on Disney+ on Nov. 25. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to hit theaters on May 5, 2023.
Source: Variety, IGN, Collider, The Verge, ComicBook.com