My initial reaction to "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" was one of disappointment, that the Disney+ short wasn't a classic song and dance variety show, similar to the Johnny Cash Christmas Shows of yore, or the Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show of 2019. But by being a tightly plotted, mini movie of under an hour, the show made it up to me. Thankfully, it doesn't skimp on the songs, either.
The "Holiday Special" follows Marvel's other recent holiday short, Halloween's black and white mini "Werewolf by Night." As The Verge writes, "The MCU has gone ahead and turned the most wonderful time of the year into another piece of its complex and ever-expanding narrative" and though the story is self-contained, it likely also functions as a prequel to the next full-length film.
