Movie Review: ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu’

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Review by Adam Courtliff

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu marks the return of the Star Wars franchise to the silver screen 7 long years after the release of The Rise of Skywalker. In that time, fans have only really had television shows to sink their teeth into, so it feels fitting that one of the franchise’s strongest recent shows, The Mandalorian, alongside one of its most iconic modern characters in Din Djarin, has been chosen to revive Star Wars at the multiplex. Sadly though, the wait for a genuinely high-quality Star Wars film goes on a little longer, with The Mandalorian and Grogu proving to be a rather disappointing return to the big screen.

Directed by Jon Favreau, who also pens the script alongside fellow writers Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu has managed to keep most details of its plot hidden from general audiences, with the trailers offering very little of actual substance. That will inevitably lead to audiences expecting major revelations and surprises along the way, but alas that’s not really the case, with much of the film feeling like more of the same from the television series.

The film picks up where season three of The Mandalorian left off, with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his cute sidekick Grogu helping the New Republic hunt down Imperial refugees across the galaxy. He’s tasked by Ward (Sigourney Weaver), who shuffles through a deck of cards while selecting her next target at will. The latest target is the elusive Commander Coin, who quickly becomes Djarin’s primary focus.

This is where the Hutt Twins and the beginning of the film’s many subplots come into play. They hold the key information Djarin needs to track down Coin, only they’ll hand it over if he first rescues their nephew and the son of the infamous Jabba the Hutt, Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy Allen White). Unsurprisingly, the mission is far from straightforward, with several “unexpected” twists thrown into the mix in an attempt to keep audiences gripped by the action.

It goes without saying that Star Wars fans that haven’t indulged in any of the television content pushed out this decade will be entirely lost as to where exactly we are in the timeline. There’s little to no introduction or development to the characters, with Favreau seemingly assuming that everybody watching The Mandalorian and Grogu already has the background knowledge as to who is who and what is what. While for fans of The Mandalorian that won’t be an issue, it’s likely this will alienate those that simply haven’t had the chance or time to consume the more recent Star Wars content. So while this is technically a new standalone adventure, prerequisite viewing is pretty much essential.

One of the most glaring issues The Mandalorian and Grogu faces is how painfully obvious that this is multiple episodes for the television series smashed together to make one feature length film. In fact, it’s so obvious that audiences will probably be able to pinpoint exact moments throughout the runtime that were clearly intended to end one episode before kicking off another. The final act especially feels less like the conclusion to a film and more like a season finale teasing the next batch of episodes.

With that, the pacing feels erratic at best. Large stretches of monotonous subplot building suddenly give way to high octane, pedal to the floor action sequences before dropping straight back into another subplot again. Rinse and repeat for 136 minutes. It makes for a pretty bland and predictable experience, with there never really feeling like there’s any genuine jeopardy for the title characters outside of a few brief moments here and there.

That said, fans of the show will still be entertained by the further development of Din Djarin and Grogu’s relationship. Pedro Pascal reprising the role is as solid as ever, while the puppetry work for Grogu is done extremely well, allowing their on screen chemistry to feel natural throughout. But it does feel like the script has a heavy over reliance on Grogu’s cuteness, which in the second half in particular starts to become a little tiresome before finally reining itself back in somewhat.
Perhaps most disappointing of all is how visually dull The Mandalorian and Grogu looks for large stretches of the runtime.
Audiences are teleported to an array of different planets, moons, and landscapes, but very rarely do the colours actually pop off the screen in the way you’d expect. Instead of being vibrant and jaw dropping like so many previous entries in the Star Wars franchise, a lot of the film looks bland and uninspiring. That’s something I never thought I’d say about a Star Wars movie because even when the quality of the films themselves has been questionable, visually they’ve almost always been impeccable. Here, it’s good at best, but rarely anything more than that.

The poor visuals also leak into what ends up being a real mixed bag of action sequences. On one hand, some of the action is choreographed brilliantly, completely immersive, and genuinely edge of your seat crowd pleasing fun that will absolutely have audiences wanting more. On the other, some sequences are messy, hard to follow, and at times almost impossible to make out who is fighting who. There’s one particular scene set in a fighting pit that perfectly sums this up, somehow managing to nail both extremes within the space of a few minutes.

The one person that will undoubtedly come out of The Mandalorian and Grogu with huge amounts of praise is Ludwig Göransson, who yet again delivers an outstanding and memorable score. A far cry from the classic music that everybody instantly recognises, Göransson has carved out his own identity within Star Wars with music that ranges from all out techno to more familiar, grounded roots. But one thing is for sure, whether it’s loud and in your face or softer and more restrained, Göransson once again pairs the music perfectly with what’s happening on screen.

While undeniably entertaining at times and bound to leave smiles on many fans’ faces, I can’t shake the feeling that Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu ultimately feels like a Disney+ special brought to cinemas a couple of years too late. There’s a distinct lack of magic that made Star Wars a household name loved by billions around the globe. So as much as it pains me to say, The Mandalorian and Grogu is unfortunately very forgettable, which is perhaps the biggest sin of them all.