15 reasons why Star Wars is a perfect family holiday movie

The length

It’s the holiday season, and time is in short supply. There are 103 things on your to-do list, spending time with your family is only five of those things, and you’ve got to fit it all in somehow without becoming distracted by one of the other 98 items yet to be done.

Imagine the scenario. You want to watch a movie series with your family over the festive period, but, as we’ve established, you have limited time to spare. Lord of the Rings is out then. You don’t have the patience for eight days, so goodbye Harry Potter. Who knows where you’re up to on Marvel anymore? (Besides, you can’t look at Peter Parker without crying, so that’s out anyway.)

Star Wars is the answer. Each film is on average about 2 hours long, which is enough time to relax but not so much that your whole day is out of whack. The longest film is The Last Jedi, which has a running time of two and a half hours and brings us nicely onto our next point…

You can pick and choose which Star Wars films you want to watch! A New Hope stands on its own two feet, since it wasn’t clear back in 1977 that it would even have sequels. In other words, you can choose to simply watch that. We’d steer clear of the prequels, but that doesn’t mean your options are any less really, because there are also new movies that have been designed precisely to be standalone Star Wars movies.

And since The Last Jedi gave us more questions than it answered, you could also easily watch The Force Awakens and not bother with the rest too. The Force Awakens was designed to be an easy in for new fans of the franchise. It’s perfectly simple Star Wars action. You’re not tied in.

You still get all the joy of a film you want to watch. But you’re not obligated to put on another one. You probably will…but you don’t have to.