Our preferred pope makes for a rakish pirate in Jon Watts and Christopher Ford's new kids' series that — with the entire "Star Wars" universe at its disposal — shouldn't feel so anchored down.

"Star Wars" has always been, on some level, for children. That's neither condescension nor criticism: George Lucas created a swashbuckling fairy tale set in space, and its mantle has been taken up by successive generations of filmmakers who encountered it at a formative age.