Caravan of Courage would be worth it if you’re the kind of person who loves Star Wars and likes Ewoks. By modern standards, Caravan of Courage is not terribly exciting, especially if you’re used to films with lots of fast-paced action and special effects. It appears to have been made on a modest budget, and it’s very much a children’s movie. Many of the elements in this movie later made it into the Ewoks cartoon series.

It is essentially a humble fantasy adventure story set in the Star Wars galaxy, and the main characters are a typical nuclear family with a mom, a dad, an older brother and a little sister, just like the children who would be watching the movie. It features ordinary kids who go on a magical journey with a band of cute but fierce teddy bear aliens and rescue their kidnapped parents, showing that you don’t have to be a Jedi, a princess or a smuggler to go on amazing adventures and be a hero.

The story centers around Mace and his little sister Cindel, but big brother Mace is the main hero of the story. With his parents missing, Mace takes it upon himself to protect his little sister and find his lost parents. The Ewoks are sentient and very capable beings, but it’s a little difficult to take them seriously when they look like cute teddy bears who speak primitively and rely on rituals whose function is not readily apparent. The language barrier is a big obstacle Mace because he often misjudges the Ewoks, he doesn’t always understand what he is supposed to do, and he acts like he has a lot to prove. Cindel, who is younger and more innocent tends to accept things more at face value, but Mace has to gradually “unlearn what he has learned” since Endor is a magical place where things are not always as they seem.

One note for parents: Mace does wield a blaster gun during the movie, but he uses it to blast away a rock blocking a cave entrance. Also, at the end of the journey one of the Ewoks makes a sacrifice, leaves Mace his axe, and dies heroically. Other than that, the movie is not particularly intense, even with giant spiders and monsters.