Movie Review: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu

There is one thing you need to know and one thing you need to remember before going into Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. What you need to know is that you do not need to have watched The Mandalorian Disney+ show to understand what is going on. If you have watched the show, you might have more of a connection with the space-traveling duo and be more invested in their journey. But to understand the events of The Mandalorian and Grogu, all you need to know is that the Mandalorian is a bounty hunter, Grogu is his adorable apprentice, and the events that take place happen after Return of the Jedi, but before The Force Awakens.

The thing you need to remember before watching The Mandalorian and Grogu is that Star Wars, as a franchise, is silly. Despite the first two films, A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, changing cinema in various ways, the franchise having whole conventions dedicated to it attended by its slew of obsessive fans, this is also a franchise that’s coolest weapon is a laser sword, that features creatures called Ewoks, Tauntauns, and Wookies, and has characters named Jar Jar Binks and Jaba the Hut. After Empire, it’s easier to look at this franchise as a piece of pure entertainment cinema than a work of art like the first films were.

All of this said, The Mandalorian and Grogu is a big, loud, silly, entertaining blockbuster. A perfect summer movie with a plot that’s easy to follow, explosive action sequences, and an understanding of the Star Wars franchise, both from the past and its current state.

The Mandalorian and Grogu opens with a stellar introduction of the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu attempting to capture an Imperial Warlord who is trying to revive the now-collapsed Empire. This scene finds the Mandalorian, or Mando as most people refer to him throughout the movie, mowing down henchmen and robots on his pursuit of the Warlord. Director Jon Favreau establishes the scale of the movie in this opening scene, showing us that this isn’t just a TV movie that should have been on Disney+, but a large-scale action movie in space, as a Star Wars movie should be, that deserves its place on the big screen, particularly on IMAX and other premium screens.

Following this successful mission, Mando is given another mission by Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver), which has Mando searching for a mysterious Warlord who is plotting against the Republic. To find this mystery person, Mando makes a deal with the Hutt twins, Jaba the Hutt’s cousins, to find their nephew and son of Jaba, Rotta the Hutt (voiced by an unrecognizable Jeremy Allen White), and bring him back to the planet of Nal Hutta. If Mando succeeds, the Hutt Twins will give him the information he needs. Mando and Grogu go on a planet-hopping mission to retrieve Rotta and find their mysterious Warlord.

Mando and Grogu’s journey is an exciting, straightforward adventure that leans heavily on the space-western vibe George Lucas intended with the first Star Wars films. Favreau takes us to different planets, from the forested mossy Nal Hutta to the seedy neon-lit Sakari, which feels like Gotham City in space. Favreau expands the galaxy further than we’ve seen before, showing us new planets and introducing us to creatures we have never seen before. Yet every new creature is unique, and every location is detailed and interesting enough to make me want to explore it more. The plot of the film adapts nicely to the big screen. It’s big enough not to be one episode in a new Mandalorian season, but also not complex enough to warrant an entire season. It’s a tight, familiar story, but a perfect one for this movie.

Mando and Grogu are a dynamic pair. While Mando is a business-first guy, he makes sure Grogu is safe no matter what his mission. There are a lot of scenes of Mando taking down inept guards and droids like an intergalactic John Wick, and each one is just as hard-hitting as the last, with Grogu assisting in some minor way. But Mando doesn’t get all the spotlight. Obviously, there are moments of Grogu being an adorable little creature, whether with a facial reaction or his affinity for food. Anything Grogu does will garner a few “aww’s” from the audience, as he has become one of the cutest characters of the last decade. But there is a moment in the second act where Mando gets poisoned by a sea creature and becomes unconscious, leaving Grogu to be the center of the action. For twenty or so minutes, Mandalorian and Grogu turns into a dialog-less nature film of Grogu roaming the forests of Nal Hutta and taking care of Mando. He builds Mando a hut, makes him comfortable, and even goes hunting for food to satisfy his own hunger. It brings the action-packed film to a halt, but I found Favreau’s decision bold, pausing the action and plot and giving us slower, quieter scenes that elevate Grogu as more than just a cute puppet and embrace the father-son relationship between Mando and Grogu.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first Star Wars movie on the big screen since 2019’s disastrous The Rise of Skywalker, and it’s good enough to wash away the bad taste that film left in the audience’s mouth. It’s an action-packed, large-scale space-western that is more than just an extended episode of the show.

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