Solo: A Star Wars Story Parent Guide

Now that the Disney conveyor belt is warmed up and accelerating at light speed, we can expect to see Star Wars join its Marvel cousins as the Mouse House multiplies and replenishes cinemas with a galaxy full of origin tales and subsequent adventures. (When Porkins gets his story, we know we’re near the end of the list.)

Alden Ehrenreich won the casting lottery to play legendary Han Solo as a much younger man. Yet whether the role will forever alter the 28-year-old actor’s career will depend on fans’ acceptance of a performance that is just as much about evoking Harrison Ford’s swagger as it is about revealing the mercenary smuggler’s backstory.

We meet young Solo on his home world of Corellia. In this highly industrialized environment he yearns to be a skilled aviator. However, the heavy-handed rule of the Empire is beginning to take hold. In a desperate move to leave the planet and gain freedom, he manages to escape—but not before the authorities nab his girlfriend Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke). Enlisting with the dark side so he can become a pilot, he instead finds himself on a muddy battlefield. It’s here that he meets Beckett (Woody Harrelson), a shifty character who has far bigger and profitable interests than fighting for the Empire, along with a Wookie named (you guessed it) Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo).

The script swiftly moves on to a heist-gone-wrong, a bad otherworld mafia boss (Paul Bettany), a game of cards that introduces us to Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and the iconic Millennium Falcon spaceship. Needless to say, Solo’s “ownership” of the craft isn’t without dispute.

Parents can expect violence similar to other Star Wars episodes. Lightsabers are near extinct in this pre-“use the force” story. Still, there are blasters, blades and the universal fist to take down a wide selection of opponents, including humans, aliens, droids and the superfluous storm trooper. With all this mayhem, blood effects are few. Profanities are relatively infrequent, however there are a few more than back in the Harrison Ford era. Likewise some veiled sexual banter is included, particularly referencing a romance between a human and a robot: “How does that work?” asks one character. “It works,” replies the other.

As expected, Solo: A Star Wars Story visits most of the dangling backstory threads presented in the first trio of movies. While that may satisfy our desires to know more about the guy who flew his ship and “made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs”, it also leaves few surprises in the character’s development. Unlike Rogue One, which built on a plot point (obtaining the plans to a secret star base), in this movie we learn that Solo likes fast ships, is a sucker for a nice girl and isn’t afraid of shady deals that lead to easy cash. Hardly surprising.

While the focus of this movie is on Solo and Ehrenreich’s depiction, the more interesting roles are in the hands of the more capable Harrelson and Bettany. Ironically, Solo is a character who is much more interesting when he’s not working alone.

About author

Rod Gustafson

Rod Gustafson has worked in various media industries since 1977. He founded Parent Previews in 1993, and today continues to write and broadcast the reviews in newspapers, on radio and (of course) on the Internet. His efforts also include writing and researching media in all its forms and observing how it effects society and culture. He and his wife Donna have four children.