Caravan of Courage: An
Ewok Adventure
Did you ever watch “Star
Was: Return of the Jedi” and wonder, whatever happened to those Ewok's? The
furry little creatures that live on the forest planet and help the rebels fight
the Empire. They were cute and cuddly looking, but could take down Storm
Troopers and kick butt with the best of them. After Jedi ended, they got a
couple of their own spin off movies, the first of which was this one “Caravan
of Courage”.
My memories of this film
were so vague, I could hardly recall almost anything about it. I remember it
involved a boy and girl who were siblings, whose parents get taken by a large
monster that looked like a giant Chewbacca, only meaner. And I remember
watching it a lot when I was kid, probably because it was aimed squarely at
kids. Where as I got right into the action of Star Wars, it had more talky
moments and there were parts of the original trilogy I didn’t understand as a
kid, especially the more complex and story driven “Empire Strikes Back”. So, I
would watch the Ewok’s in their own movie, because it was purely Star Wars for
much younger viewers.
Watching it again to write
this review was like watching it for the first time. As it went along, more and
more became familiar to me. For example, the memory of an Ewok hand gliding
stuck in my head; a strange thing to remember, but right enough, the film opens
with an Ewok flying over the forest looking for his two children. He finds
them, and they also come across a space craft that seems to have crash landed
in the woods. They enter it to find a young girl hiding inside, then her older
brother arrives with a laser gun, threatening the Ewok's, who jump him then tie
the boy up to a log and carry him back to their village.
Despite their rough
housing of the brother, the Ewok’s treat the little girl very well. The humans
try to communicate with the hairy little creatures, and it takes some time, but
eventually they manage to develop a line of communication. The boy manages to
tell the Ewok’s his sister is sick, which they understand and manage to tell
the boy what they’re offering will maker her feel better. There are some other
scenes where the kids simply interact with their new furry friends, and come to
explain that their ship crashed and their parents are missing.
Only hanging around long
enough for his sister to get better, the brother takes off with her to resume
the search for their parents. But Endor is home to more than just the cute
little Ewok’s. The siblings are chased through the woods by a giant, snarling
dog-like creature, which they manage to hide from. The Ewok’s come to the
rescue and take it down. The humans realise that they need the help of the
Ewok’s to find their parents, but that won’t be easy as they are being held by
that giant creature we saw earlier, called the Gorax. Luckily, the kids won’t
have to fight the monster themselves, as the Ewok’s offer to help.
The film is nicely
narrated by some guy we never see, but he fills in the gaps that aren’t
explained. As the Ewok’s can’t speak English, the narrator explains to us what
they are doing or trying to say to the kids, so we can follow the story. It’s a
nice touch, and harks back to a way of classic storytelling. The script for
this movie itself was written by George Lucas. He didn’t direct it, but his
influence is certainly in the film. Apparently, this story was set before the
Ewok’s got involved in the fight against the Empire in “Return of the Jedi” so
I guess that explains why they were so battle ready by that film – they got
their practice in with this story.
The second act of the film
is all about the kids and their new Ewok friends making the long trek to the
land where the Gorax lives, and where their parents are being held. They
assemble a caravan of horses, supplies and themselves, hence the title of the
film “Caravan of Courage”. Starting off like a happy little walk through the
woods, as the brave siblings and Ewok’s are cheered off like heroes, their
journey soon turns dangerous as they edge close to the home of the horrid
monster.
Along the way, the
greatest challenges will come from the kids working out the Ewok ways, and the
Ewok’s themselves just being bumbling idiots. But when they’re not hanging off
tree branches or meddling in magic they can’t fully control, they are still
resourceful little guys, and continue to show the sceptical boy, Mace, that
they are there to help, as much as he disapproves of their approach.
As the kids and Ewok’s
reach the home of the Gorax, which is a giant cave, my memories kicked back in.
This was the part of the film I remember and stuck with me most. Even before
they battle the creature, they have to climb across a giant spider web, and
shake off big, black spiders as they dangle down from above. They walk up a
giant staircase after this, which I also remember. It gives a sense of scale as
to just how big the monster is.
Then the Gorax shows up.
He still looks scary today. Sixty feet tall, with long black hair and sharp
teeth, it also has a barrage of weapons. Sitting down at his own stone table,
he chews the meat off bones, and eyes off his next meal; a couple of tiny
humans trapped in a cage. It’s the kid’s parents. One of the Ewok’s distracts it,
while the boy works out how to save his parents.
Watching this film again
after I don’t how long, was the most nostalgic experience of all the movies I
viewed for this series of reviews. As I hardly remembered anything about it, I
was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was. I can see why I loved it
as a kid, but now all grown up, I found it hard to take off my filmmakers hat;
the special effects were very outdated, as it used stop motion animation and
very obvious green screen. The acting from the young performers as brother and
sister, was strictly amateur, and their thunder is stolen by the Ewok’s; they
own the show and whoever plays them does a great job in their little suits,
nailing the walking, talking, mannerisms and reactions to everything going on
around them. We only saw the Ewok’s for a short while in Return of the Jedi,
but here they get an entire movie of their own. We learn more about the
creatures with “Caravan of Courage” and they continued to earn their place as
some of the most comedic, cute, creative and clever creatures made for a movie,
ever. Will we see them again in the upcoming “Star Wars Episode VII – The Force
Awakens”? Maybe, as the new film is set 30 years after the evens of Jedi. Bring
back the Ewok’s I say!
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