The Ewok Adventure (1984)

Rating: **
Narration: Burl Ives
Cast: Warwick Davis

All things considered, this low budget children's adventure doesn't suck, but it does feature some rather annoying characters - particularly the main one. The film starts out with a voiceover by Burl Ives, making you think that you're about to see "Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer", and much of the film works within that framework. A family has crashed their star cruiser on the forest moon of Endor leaving the parents and children separated. The parents are captured by a big and scary giant, while the children (a pre-teen boy and his adorable little sister) are found by a group of Ewoks (Wicket's family, in fact). From there on out, it's a quest to find the parents, and the boy continues to get into trouble and act like an arrogant jerk the entire time. It's a wonder the Ewoks didn't stick a blaster in his mouth. After fighting with some truly frightening monsters (including giant icky spiders) they manage to rescue mom and dad and kill the nasty giant. Pretty scary for kids stuff. Apart from the distasteful Ewoks, there are some decent effects and some nice cinematic compositions that raise the level of the film to tolerable.