Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu – Review

Audiences can give themselves a pat on the back because the latest cinematic chapter of the Star Wars universe is all on them. 

Following less-than-stellar performances for two standalone Star Wars movies along with the rather public disappointment with the Sequel Trilogy of films that concluded the Skywalker Saga, there hasn’t been one since 2019. 

Instead, George Lucas’ creation, now in the hands of Disney, found notable success on streaming, with great acclaim for two seasons of Andor, about the formation of the Rebel Alliance, and with The Mandalorian, about a bounty hunter from one of the more popular species in the franchise.

And because of this popularity, and general acceptance by the fandom because, what else is there for fans to celebrate, the Jedi Council at Lucasfilm decided that a planned fourth season of the series get shifted into a movie, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, led by the title character, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Gladiator II), along with his companion, Grogu, an extremely young Force-wielder from the same species as Jedi Master Yoda. 

Yes, the very character that fans once called Baby Yoda, even though he’s about 50 years old, though those of his species can live beyond 700 years, whose image can now be found in dozens of toys, merchandise and currently, the face of the franchise.

This Is The Way that Disney has opted to proceed, to bring the Star Wars franchise where it belongs, on the big screen but after 132 minutes of watching the new dynamic duo traipsing across the galaxy working for the New Republic’s Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver, Aliens,Galaxy Quest), accompanied by New Republic pilot Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios (Steve Blum returning to voice the character who was one of the main characters in the animated Star Wars: Rebels series), with support from the Anzellan mechanics from the TV series, the film plays more like a role-playing video game than a film to bring the film franchise back to its glory days.

Djarin and Grogu start off completing a bounty, before they are sent on another bounty, and another, as they move from planet to planet, and in case you don’t realise it, a lot of time is spent showing the duo on board a new Razer Crest ship – the same one Djarin had but was blown up at the end of the second season. In some weird way, audiences don’t have to have seen the series to understand the film, as aside from the returning characters, very little is carried over from the Disney+ series. If all you know is a Mandalorian and Baby Yoda on a ship, the film actually retains these elements.

There’s no need to understand about Beskar armour, or why the two of them are together. Key characters from the show, including Bo-Katan Kryze, Fennec Shand and Boba Fett don’t show up, but even the ones who do, don’t appear in a meaningful way – Zeb appears from the start but you won’t know his name until later in the film becaxuse he’s never properly introduced and even if you don’t know his importance in the lore, he doesn’t have a key role to play aside from being a pilot. 

Think of this movie as the sequel of a popular role-playing game, as all that your character has learned and amassed in the first game, or in this case, the streaming series, is “lost” and your character starts from scratch in the next game, or in this case, the film. And you spend the better part of this chapter chasing down bounties to bump up your street credibility, before you get to take down the Hutt Twins, along with Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White, The Bear), the son of the infamous Jabba the Hutt from the original trilogy.

For all intents and purposes, The Mandalorian and Grogu has been shaped to contain the best of what fans know of Star Wars. There are X-Wings and a squadron of New Republic pilots; there are the Hutts and fan-favourite Kyuzo bounty hunter Embo; there are Stormtroopers and remnants of the Empire, and there’s the Razor Crest and Grogu, whose very cute, impish appearance should appeal to the masses. 

There’s also a lot of rather mediocre puppetry, which might look great on your TV, but just appears out of place in a big-budget film. What writer/director Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Iron Man 2) and co-writer Dave Filoni, the current president and chief creative officer of Lucasfilm, who also has a cameo in the movie as New Republic X-wing pilot Trapper Wolf, have delivered on in terms of consistency is with the exposition-heavy dialogue, especially with Rotta. White might have won accolades for his acting, but voice acting is something different, and he hasn’t quite gotten the grasp of it.

The Mandalorian has shown that in the right hands, Star Wars can continue to grow beyond the Skywalkers, and Lucasfilm is trying. The Mandalorian and Grogu, on the other hand, is merely a serviceable film that has the elements fans know, but doesn’t offer anything more to carry the franchise forward. And That Is The Way to bring balance.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?