This month on Dispodopolis we discuss the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story. Yes, it came out last year in March 2018, but it was just released on Netflix. Fiona, Ryan and I spent our Friday night eating popcorn, previewing the movie and finding out why it bombed at the box office. To our surprise it was definitely worthy of a Friday evening of snacks and family viewing.
Solo is a fun ride through the Star Wars universe. It relies heavily on the strength and love of characters that had already been created for the Star War’s universe. Solo falls short in the opening scene by not creating a deep and emotional connection between Qi’ra and Han Solo. It redeems itself further in the movie by creating a relationship we can grasp onto between Lando Calrissian and L3-37.
Star Wars movies seem to always over explain previous episodes and this one goes to the edge but doesn’t quite give everything away. This is actually refreshing. We get a better understanding of the profiteers and gangsters referred to as the Syndicates and shows there is a symbiotic relationship between them and the Empire. The Empire always having the upper hand and allowing them to exist.
We also see the resistance and how it has always existed, even if it was just a gang assembled from broken souls trying to obtain some sort of justice. Their justice seeking was spurned on by the Empire leaving a wake of death and destruction on the many planets they conquered in the name of solidarity. In the second scene of the movie, we find that Han Solo, three years later, has been transformed into a ground trooper attacking the people of Mimban. He is told this is for the benefit for the people of Mimban.
Solo continues from here to follow Han Solo’s journey through the galaxy. He meets Chewbacca, and a gang of outlaws run by Tobias Beckett. Han gets involved with their journey to obtain coaxium. Of course, he runs into Qi’ra on his journey and through her meets Lando Calrissian and L3-37. The movie runs through how and why Han Solo is who he is. It isn’t pretty and there are a lot of dark undertones that only adults could decipher. You don’t become Han Solo with out a dark journey that leads you to distrust people and holds you back from creating any real relationships with people. His closest friend and family member will always be Chewbacca and that is because they saved each other from certain death and have an intense respect for one another. Neither wants anything but kinship from the other.
After our conversation about the movie Solo: A Stars Wars Story we discuss the ten movies that the Walt Disney Studios releases this year in 2019. The movies that are coming out this year in chronological order are: Captain Marvel (March 8), Dumbo (March 29), Penguin (April 19), Avengers: Enders Game (April 26), Aladdin (May 24), Toy Story 4 (June 21), Lion King (July 19), Artemis Fowl (August 9), Frozen 2 (November 22), Star Wars: Chapter 9 (December 20).
Not all of the ten movies are going to be blockbuster hits. We all appreciate the “Penguin” movie being released to keep that spirit of Earth Day and Walt alive, but know it is a throw away movie when it comes to money. Apart from Penguin, the weakest link to this chain of movies has to be present in the real-life adaptations of the Disney classic animator features: Dumbo, Aladdin, and Lion King. The other movies being released by Disney are sequels or in addition to other storylines already seen. The only knew IP in the mix is Artemis Fowl, which is a sci-fi thriller for kids. It seems to fall in the vein of A Wrinkle in Time, which fell short in a lot of ways. We are hoping that Artemis Fowl’s writes created an emotional character depth we didn’t see in A Wrinkle in Time.
Before we jump into our discussion of the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story, we ask ourselves the question “What movie, being released by the Walt Disney Studios, are you looking forward to this year?” Ryan and I get to choose one movie and Fiona surprises us with two choices, but one is an unconventional choice that will not be in the movie theaters.
We would love to hear from you and your family. If you have any comments, questions or fun and fancy free thoughts for us, email us at comments@dispodopolis.com. Please enjoy our latest podcast, Dispodopolis.