‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ is Less than Stellar
Star Wars has returned to the big screen after seven years. With the release of the controversial The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, which finished the then Skywalker Saga, Lucasfilm took a back seat on the movies as they focused on the then new Disney+. By far its biggest success was The Mandalorian series, which spanned three seasons and some spin-offs, all centered around the rise of the New Republic set after Return of the Jedi. The Mandalorian follows the titular character played by Pedro Pascal, who ends up adopting a small green child (like Yoda but not Yoda) named Grogu. The pair go on adventures and, throughout the show, are introduced to the wider galaxy and the ongoing fight between the New Republic and the remnant Empire. The Mandalorian and Grogu movie marks the return to theaters for the franchise, but also the first time a Disney+ show has led to a movie.
[Note: This review will only contain minor spoilers for the film.]
The Mandalorian and Grogu story
Set after the third season of The Mandalorian, the movie continues the adventures of the Mandalorian and Grogu as they fight on behalf of the New Republic, for whom they do jobs. The film takes the pair across the galaxy on the hunt for ex-Imperials. This leads them to travel and find the missing Rotta the Hutt, son of Jabba, in exchange for new leads and information from the Hutt Cartel. The film is written and directed by Jon Favreau, who co-created the show alongside the now head of Lucasfilm, Dave Filoni.
The Mandalorian and Grogu as a film is a rather weird one. There is plenty to like, but also plenty to feel frustrated about. For starters, the film itself feels very much like the TV show in the sense that you can almost see where the episodes would start and end if it were a fourth season. This takes you out of the film as a viewer, especially when the film decides to almost stop its momentum and pace just before the second half of the movie starts.
The movie is quite a long one, clocking in at just over 2 and a quarter hours. You can feel this whilst watching, and it certainly could have been edited better to feel snappier.
In the second half of the movie, we see Grogu take charge and solve problems by himself, which slows the movie down to do this. I did enjoy seeing Grogu become more of his own character in this film without the help of the Mandalorian. It was great to see him take on more of a leading role. Despite his lack of speaking, it is clear he has grown as a character from the show into the movie and becomes more engaged with the wider galaxy. His scenes without any action, however, did make the movie feel very slow-paced, especially when it is supposed to be building up to the big end-of-movie fight.
The side characters often outshine the leads in this Star Wars story
The Mandalorian himself as a main character in the movie is fine. His fight scenes are fantastic, and there are plenty of those set in cool locations, such as inside AT-AT’s or in a dingy bar. But you get the sense that there is not much of a character arc for him within the film. He doesn’t seem to change much, and the lack of interesting dialogue and interactions with other characters in the film dampens any sense of his character. He is good as a character, but it feels like they brought him back to how he was in the first season of the show rather than where we find him at the end of season 3.
The movie shines most in a lot of its other characters, mainly puppets and CGI characters, which the movie is full of, and helps make Star Wars feel like Star Wars. Sci-Fi veteran Sigourney Weaver is also in the film, playing one of the only other human characters. She doesn’t get a lot of screentime but plays a no-nonsense New Republic colonel who I would love to see more of. Her scenes were great, just a few and far between.
Rotta the Hutt is a huge part of this movie and arguably one of the better characters. Originally hailing from the Clone Wars movie back in 2008 (another movie that felt like episodes of a show stuck together), he ends up in a plot from the Separatists to gain favor with Jabba the Hutt, his father.
In the movie, we see Rotta as a character trying to move out from under his shadow, but crossing paths with The Mandalorian brings him back into the world of Hutts and gangsters. They end up teaming up within the film. Rotta goes through a good arc within the film. He learns to become his own Hutt out of his father’s shadow; the CGI on him was excellent, and being voiced by Jeremy Allen White means he gets some great lines. White does an impressive job with him as a character.
The other characters I really enjoyed are the Anzellans, little engineer aliens that are just hilarious whenever they show up. They are puppets in the film, but work so well as puppets; there are four of them, and they work so well alongside Grogu, whom they spend a lot of time with. They got the most laughs during my screening of the film and were by far the funniest parts. Star Wars is great when it is full of cool aliens and creatures, and The Mandalorian and Grogu definitely don’t shy away from that aspect.
Good visuals and villains keep the movie on its feet
The Mandalorian and Grogu does get plenty of core aspects of what makes Star Wars feel like Star Wars right. There are cool new locations within the film, including a moon called Shakari that feels like 1920’s Chicago, as well as Nal Hutta, homeworld to the Hutts, a wonderfully weird swamp world that certainly feels deserving of the big screen. Some moments in the film feel like they have elevated the Mandalorian for the big screen, but it’s just a shame that more of the film doesn’t feel that way, which makes it suffer as a whole.
There are a few villains within the film, which is nothing new to Star Wars, but they make the film feel like these two separate halves. The remnant Empire takes up the first half, and we get to see what most of the Mandalorians’ job with the New Republic entails. I wish we got to see more of the remnant Empire; as it is teased, they are up to something big. Most of the rest of the film deals with the Hutts and the underworld.
On top of this, we have another bounty hunter who is hired by the Hutt’s to stop the Mandalorian. Embo is another character from the Clone Wars who makes his live-action debut within the film. In the movie, he is mostly silent but proves to be a deadly force against the Mandalorian. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Embo on the big screen, as they managed to show just how much of a threat he can be with ease. Even his pet alien dog causes Grogu a lot of grief and trouble in the movie.
Final thoughts on The Mandalorian and Grogu
For The Mandalorian and Grogu to truly work as a film is the sense of grandness that a lot of Star Wars films have. But that seems to be missing here. Even Solo, its next best comparison for scale, felt big and grand when we saw Han deal with something like a Star Destroyer head-on. You felt like he was stepping into something bigger as the film went on. Whereas in this film, it feels like all the bigger stuff is happening off-screen.
I would have loved to spend more time with the New Republic and not just see a small part of it, alongside getting more hints and seeing more of what the remnant Empire is up to. It doesn’t help that we have been told a lot of the bigger fights and New Republic action is being saved for Ahsoka season 2. The fight against Thrawn would have been great to introduce in this film for fans old and new to get a sense of the threat of Thrawn and the remnant Empire. It really feels like they just wanted something for the big screen to get a movie out, rather than having a good reason for a Mandalorian movie.
It definitely gets some things right as a Star Wars film. I enjoy the visual effects a lot; the ships, creatures, and locations look phenomenal, and there’s always a lot of care and attention put into making them look like living, breathing worlds.
The music is where things get really good. Ludwig Goransson returns to score the movie, and you can feel the love and effort he puts into it. There are so many great and infectious tunes within the score, as well as many variations of the main Mandalorian theme tune. The start of the movie does this as it builds up to the crescendo, gives us the main theme, and then a Top Gun-style introduction to the New Republic base that the Mandalorian spends a lot of time at. This was a great scene and also the first time Star Wars has had an opening credits sequence.
Overall, for me, The Mandalorian and Grogu as a movie is a mixed bag; it doesn’t quite hit the highest highs of a Star Wars movie, but it manages to capture a lot of its core aspects. It’s a film best enjoyed by being a fan of the show, but it also provides the perfect entryway into Star Wars for new viewers.
While I do wish they could have spent more time crafting a story worthy of the big screen rather than something that could have been season 4, what we do get on the big screen is still worthy of a film. There is heart and emotion, and the usual Star Wars comedy. It may well be a film you don’t really watch alongside a rewatch of the eleven others to date, but it would work perfectly after a rewatch of the Mandalorian show. I would still say it’s an enjoyable enough movie and well worth seeing in IMAX just for the visuals and score alone.
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