Hello, Marvel fans and welcome this fine November eve to the House of Macleod Movie and televisual review corner! Today we look at Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022 44M) Starring Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel (as Groot), Bradley Cooper (as Rocket), Maria Bakalova (as Cosmo the Space Dog), Sean Gunn alongside the great man himself... Kevin Bacon.
Traditionally the Christmas special is either one of two things: Excellent or genuinely terrible. James Gunn's offering for this holiday season is happily no Star Wars Holiday Special. What he has created is frankly one of the most truly nuts bits of TV I’ve had the pleasure of watching all year. At 44 minutes it's easy to digest and fills you full of that warm Christmas spirit. You know the kind I’m talking about, the kind of Christmas magic that normally only comes from the likes of Home Alone or The Muppets Christmas Carol. This particular holiday special tells the tale of how Yondu screwed up Christmas for Peter Quill and the completely insane lengths that Mantis and Drax will go to to bring the festive spirit back to StarLord’s heart. The special is bookended by an animated sequence that sets up the events of the story, which I found to be particularly poignant, especially considering Yondu’s death, which brings a nice bit of an extra dimension to the pair’s relationship. Of course, there have been reports that this sets up the events of the next Guardians film, but I think it served more as a way to cut out exposition. When we see the third entry we won’t need various things explained to us and with that, we can head right into the action, I think this was wonderfully achieved.
This Christmas bonanza has it all, It's funny, it's emotional, it has musical numbers, it has a big-name guest star, essentially it has all the components of a great Christmas special and I think that Gunn really nailed the Christmas spirit of it all. I’m looking forward to seeing what he has in store for the Guardians before he heads off to be the head honcho at DC. If it's half as funny, heartfelt and action-packed as this was, we are in for a hell of a ride. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is available on Disney + right now. Did it jingle your bells or did it roast your chestnuts on an open fire? Let us know what you thought in the talkbacks...
Official House of Macleod Score: 9/10. Ho Ho Ho, Now I’ve got a ray gun…
