The "Finish Your Vegetables" Finale
There is a massive gulf between how film nerds view this movie and how kids experience it. On Letterboxd, it’s sitting at a 2.3, which is usually reserved for bargain-bin sequels or total disasters. But the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is an 86. That tells you everything you need to know: critics hated the how of the story, but fans generally enjoyed the what.
If your family has already invested forty hours into the previous eight films, you’re here to finish the story. It’s the "finish your vegetables" of the franchise. It might not be as tasty as the original trilogy, but you can’t skip the ending. If you’re still trying to figure out where this fits in the marathon, our Star Wars Movies Watch Order can help you decide if you want to watch these in the order they came out or the order the story actually happens.
The Palpatine Problem
The biggest friction point for parents isn't the lightsaber fights; it’s the horror vibes. This movie leans much harder into creepy than its predecessors. The main villain is essentially a living corpse on a life-support crane, surrounded by chanting cultists in a dark, lightning-filled arena. It’s visually more similar to a classic monster movie than a bright space adventure.
For kids who cruised through the earlier films, this might be the first time they actually want to hide behind a pillow. If you have an 8-year-old who is obsessed with the lore but sensitive to "zombie" aesthetics, you might want to give them a heads-up. We talk about balancing these darker moments in our guide on navigating Star Wars at every age.
Pacing for the TikTok Generation
The plot moves at a frantic, almost exhausting speed. It’s structured like a series of video game fetch quests: go to the desert planet to find a dagger, take the dagger to the water planet to find a compass, take the compass to the secret planet to find the boss.
While this made critics' heads spin, it actually works well for kids with shorter attention spans. There is rarely a three-minute window without an explosion, a new alien, or a dramatic revelation. It’s not deep cinema, but it is effective at keeping a room full of kids quiet for two and a half hours. Just don't be surprised if they have a dozen questions afterward about how certain characters survived or where that massive fleet of ships actually came from—the movie doesn't really care about the logic, and eventually, you shouldn't either.
Beyond the Force
While the movie focuses on space wizards, the core theme is about choosing who you want to be despite where you came from. It’s a heavy lift for a blockbuster, but it’s a great jumping-off point for talking about identity. If your kid is starting to get interested in stories about carving out your own path in a complicated world, you might also look into Marie Arnold’s I Rise, which handles themes of activism and identity with a much more grounded, real-world perspective.
