You don’t need to have seen any episode of The Mandalorian to enjoy The Mandalorian and Grogu, but this is either the film’s greatest strength or weakness.
The show’s third (and potentially last) season aired three years ago, and it threw a number of threats against its protagonists, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu. After surviving pirates, cyborgs, and Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), the duo earns some well deserved peace and quiet, and it’s hard to see what else the series can throw at them. The finale wraps up nicely — so nicely, in fact, that LucasFilm decided to switch from making a fourth season to releasing a cinematic adventure instead. But despite this pivot, watching the latest film to join the Star Wars franchise feels a lot like watching a very long episode on the big screen.
Now, there isn’t anything detrimentally wrong with The Mandalorian and Grogu. It follows the standard beats of an episode from the show: the Mandalorian is given a quest, which he embarks on with his tiny, Force-wielding adopted ward. Things go south, as usual, but not so south that our heroes can’t escape the clutches of the evil Empire. It’s a standard formula, one that’s also been the basis of the films in the trilogies, and it makes it all the easier to watch the movie without worrying about not understanding the series’ lore and Easter Eggs (of which there are quite a few, but again, don’t worry). The action scenes that unfold onscreen are definitely worth the trip to the cinema (especially onIMAX), and Ludwig Göransson goes so heavy on the cinematic scoring that it makes the stakes of each bar brawl, fist fight, and starship battles feel just a little higher.
But just because The Mandalorian and Grogu meets all the requirements of a Star Wars movie does not mean that it’s the best. The Mandalorian — voiced and played by Pascal, but with stuntwork by Lateef Crowder and Brendan Wayne — is at his best when he’snot trying to be a stoic, cowboy-esque hero. The character comes to life in his subtler moments, whether he’s strapping Grogu into a pilot seat or giving some much-needed advice to Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White), but these moments are few and far between. Instead, they’re overshadowed by the spectacle of the film’s fight sequences, which will most likely appeal to a good chunk of fans, but the gravitas is lacking.
However, the movie does have a few saving graces. Rotta the Hutt emerges as a surprisingly thoughtful character, despite… whatever White was trying to do as a voice actor (his voice was so monotone and so pitch-corrected that literally anyone could have played Rotta). And just before the final act, we get a good, long pause that takes us straight out of the excess action and into an interlude that harkens back to the awe and wonder of the original trilogy (think Luke learning how to use the Force in The Empire Strikes Back). But again, these glimpses into what The Mandalorian and Grogu could have been are not enough to deem it exceptional, and you may leave the cinema feeling like you could have streamed the whole movie on Disney+.
