This holiday season, the new comedy, “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special”, rated TV-14, debuted on Disney+ on Nov. 25, allowing more fans to see the Holiday Special easier than if it was shown in theaters. The Holiday Special is in the form of a short film, as it is only 44 minutes long.

Directed by James Gunn, it contains the regular cast of Guardians of the Galaxy, including Chris Pratt as Star Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax, Bradley Cooper as Rocket and Pom Klementieff as The Mantis. The Holiday Special also stars Kevin Bacon. The band, Old 97’s, makes an appearance in the short film playing two songs, including “Here it is Christmastime,” featuring Bacon.

The short film centers around the Guardians of the Galaxy trying to bring back Star Lord’s Christmas spirit. In the film, The Mantis and Drax venture across Earth to look for Bacon as a Christmas present for Star Lord because of his appreciation of the famous actor. On their adventure to find him, they get into all sorts of fun situations to get him to help restore Star Lord’s Christmas spirit. 

The short film shows us what the Guardians of the Galaxy have been doing after the events of Avengers: Endgame and Thor: Love and Thunder, which were the last movies they appeared in. The movie also helps establish some worldbuilding in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by showing the viewer new locations and alien species.

One of the reasons fans like the new Holiday Special is because we get to see these characters in a new light with them being happy and wanting to celebrate the Christmas holiday with each other.

One of the things I enjoyed about the Holiday Special was that it was really heartwarming. I enjoyed many of the jokes and references to other movies. One thing that the movie could’ve improved on is the screen time that the characters share. In the short film, the main plot revolves around Star Lord, but he has little screen time compared to other characters.

The Holiday Special also will get fans excited for the next installment in the Guardians of the Galaxy series which will release on May 3, 2023.