I don't know what I was expecting from this special, but I guess it was more than what I got. It's fun, lighthearted, and if you're a Marvel fan, you’ll like it, but it’s nothing I’d watch over and over again.

Synopsis

Mantis and Drax go on a holiday trip of shenanigans to make Christmas for Star-Lord fun again and spread the holiday cheer to all around them.

The film stars Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, and Kevin Bacon as himself. 

What I loved 

Mantis. I love Mantis as a character, so I'm really happy we got to see more of her personality in this special. Her one liners are funny and overall makes the special enjoyable.

The light feeling of the special. It felt funny and lighthearted, unlike some other Marvel features and shows. It just simply felt like a fun short that I feel like Marvel doesn't usually do. It just felt very different.

What I didn't love

The feeling like I missed something. The special starts off very abrupt, and it adds a lot of new things with no explanation. In a special, I feel like it's very weird to introduce a lot of unknown factors, like new characters, locations, etc., and just expect people to know. It also uses a weird animation aspect that I was truly confused by till the end, and it just felt overall off-brand.

How short it was. Like in my previous point, it felt so short for all the things they stuffed into it. It felt like we were immediately thrown into this quest without any more information. Some of the scenes were funny, but the timing just felt off overall. 

Verdict

I'm still not sure how I feel about this special. It wasn't terribly remarkable in any specific way. It’s a fun little laugh for a Marvel fan, but it's nothing of substance like I expected it to be with how it was marketed.

I give "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" a 4.5 out of 10. 

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