“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” Review – Perfectly Fine, Perfectly Forgettable

PLEASE NOTE. THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS. PLEASE CLICK OFF THE ARTICLE IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM YET.

The Mandalorian and Grogu. A once-upon-a-time Disney+ series that turned heads and hearts all around the world for the then-called Baby Yoda. It feels like a lifetime ago, but mainly because it was. The first episode of The Mandalorian dropped on November 12th, 2019, mere months before lockdowns plagued the world and Covid-19 became the forefront of everything we did.

The second season launched in October 2020, in the middle of it all, and we found comfort in that. Season 2 was some of the best television in history, especially the finale. We then had an okay season 3. We all expected a fourth and final season, but in January 2024, it was announced that the next iteration would become a movie.

After finally watching it, I completely understand why fans are divided.

I remember back then thinking: “Really?!” It felt off because we all had the pleasure of watching The Mandalorian for free (with a Disney+ subscription) every week. It became the norm to an extent. I believe in the end, it makes sense to shoot for a movie. A bigger budget and cinema marketing come with the trade-off, and the two main characters are stupidly marketable. The Mandalorian and Grogu merchandise has been selling like hot cakes for years. I’m surprised they didn’t go down this route after season 1.

The movie launched to mixed reactions. At the time of writing on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie is sitting with a 62% tomatometer and 88% popcorn meter. This isn’t the first time a movie has divided fans and critics, with the recent Michael biopic doing the same thing. The Mandalorian and Grogu has launched to a box office opening of $165m, which is a huge feat.

Now onto the movie itself. I had a fun time at the cinema. I went with a group of friends, and we’re all fans of Star Wars and The Mandalorian. It opened up as I’d expect a movie like this to open up, with Mando tearing up a place and collecting a bounty. It began with action, as Star Wars typically does, especially in recent years.

We get glimpses of where our heroes are now, but we never got much information from the fallout of Moff Gideon up to the point we’re now at. Mando and Grogu are both working for the New Republic, helping clear out Imperial criminals, bringing them cold or bringing them in warm. There hasn’t been a lot of development since the last time we saw them, although Grogu does have a little more control over his force abilities here.

The movie flowed well. From start to finish, I never felt lost in what was going on, and it never lost my attention. I was truly able to switch off for the movie and not focus on my review, something I always dislike, as I prefer to watch a movie because I’m entertained, not because I plan to review it.

In the midst of the flow, we had amazing action sequences, the early plot, the middle and the end all flowed well together. The movie also looks fantastic throughout, especially during the large-scale action sequences and Mandalorian combat scenes. This alone can make or break a movie, but thankfully, The Mandalorian and Grogu hit all of the right spots here. The issue I have with the entire project is that whilst I think it’s a good film, it’s not something I was overly excited about seeing again.

As my friends and I walked out of the theatres, it felt like the same sentiment was shared across the 4 of us. We enjoyed it, but it was very much a film that didn’t hold much weight. It’s not like walking out of Rogue One feeling blown away, or walking out of The Force Awakens (prior to the butchering that followed) wanting more. The movie never really leaves a lasting impression once it ends. I’ll watch it again when it drops on Disney+, but I’m not eager to go back to the theatres to watch it again, and I most likely won’t, as I got the experience delivered.

Although my feelings are clear on the experience, I stand by the fact that it was still a relatively good movie. It had great moments throughout, which I have outlined my top 5 below. Did I think The Mandalorian deserved to head to a movie? Probably not. I have seen a lot of people say it’s a glorified episode of The Mandalorian, and I can’t help but agree with those comments. You could easily have fit a lot of this into a single episode. For a project marketed as a major cinematic event, it never truly feels bigger than the TV series.

Story

In a nutshell, the show centres around Din Djarin being a contractor for the New Republic, bringing in old Imperial Warlords. He’s then offered a contract that is provided by the Hutt Twins to save Rotta Hutt in exchange for finding an Imperial Warlord. Obviously, the Hutt Twins have a hidden agenda, as does Din Djarin. Things go sideways quickly, and that’s effectively the story in a nutshell.

Was it bad? No. Was it a masterpiece? Also no.

It sits in the middle. There was nothing truly bad about the story. It all felt very meh in the end. There were no moments throughout where the story didn’t feel predictable. You could almost guess each segment as it came. For example, when Embo first shows up, you already know Din Djarin is going to have his ass handed to him. That’s exactly what happened. When Din is poisoned, you already knew what was going to happen, and it did. Each turn was easy to read.

It reads the same as the title in the article: Perfectly Fine, Perfectly Forgettable.

Characters

Din Djarin and Grogu are your leads. Zeb features a fair bit. We also have Lord Janu Coin, Colonel Ward, Rotta Hutt, the Hutt Twins, Embo, and a couple of other relatively non-interesting characters. It didn’t feel as expansive as it has done previously, specifically the TV show. We had some amazing characters over the years within the shows, such as Bo-Katan, Cara Dune, Paz Viszla, Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and more. It felt like the TV show did a better job with the overall layer of the characters than the movie did.

I also feel like, for 3 seasons, they had Moff Gideon as the main antagonist. He was incredible throughout and felt like a threat. The Hutt Twins never had the same aura. They simply lacked the presence Moff Gideon had. I felt like the main antagonist was quite weak. Despite how poor The Acolyte was, they still had a villain that felt like a major threat.

Although I harp on the negatives, there were some incredible standouts. Zeb. What a guy. We have seen him teased in live-action previously, and I genuinely thought that by the trailers, we’d only get a few scenes with him. He was in a significant portion of the film, and he made it better. I’ve been a fan of Zeb for a long time due to the Rebels animated show. He definitely provided a good amount of entertainment.

Then there’s Rotta, who deserves a standout shout. Judging by the promotional material, I fully expected Rotta to be a villain, trying to live up to his father’s name (Jabba the Hutt). He was a pleasant surprise and greatly reminded me of Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok. He wanted to be his own man, not living under the shadow of what his father had done. I enjoyed Rotta, and he was arguably one of the better characters in the show.

As always, Din Djarin and Grogu stood out as the ultimate pair. Din Djarin shooting his way out of everything is always epic to see, whilst Grogu has become so much more confident in his own abilities. It was great to see them reunited for a brand new adventure.

For the full cast list, you can visit IMDb by clicking here.

Hype

We score this because we always ask the question, did the film live up to our expectations? We walked out wanting more from it. When we look back, the trailers kind of gave a lot away without even realising. I scored this section 7/10 because I was still super stoked to see it, but I was more hyped going in than I was walking out.

Favorite Moments

1. Din Djarin effortlessly takes out 3 AT-ATs in the opening segments of the show. He does so using pure skill and his jet pack. His timing is impeccable as always. There isn’t a lot more to say other than this entire sequence was incredible.

2. Mandalorian vs Rotta. It reminded me of Thor: Ragnarok with Thor vs. Hulk with a twist of Attack of the Clones. It’s not just those two facing off against each other. It’s more about how the fight ended, and then they came together, once Rotta realised that he was marked for death anyway. They had to stand side by side to take out the exotic (vicious) animals that were trying to kill them.

3. Mandalorian vs Embo 2. They had two fights. The first fight heavily favoured Embo as he took Din down quickly. The second fight was amongst other fights happening at the same time. Rotta fought the Twins, and Grogu was fighting Embo’s hound. In the middle, though, it showcased why Embo was a threat and why Din Djarin is one of the best Mandalorian warriors there is. The fight was fantastic.

4. After Din Djarin narrowly escapes with his life after being dropped into the water by the Hutt Twins, he is poisoned. This catches up to him as he collapses. Grogu thankfully stays behind to assist, firstly healing the wound. This doesn’t heal the poison. Grogu has to build a makeshift thing in order to hide himself while he recovers. I felt awful for Grogu here as he learns to fend for himself. In the end, he heroically saves Din’s life.

5. The New Republic showing up in full support of Din Djarin was incredible. They all fly in with X-Wings, providing cover fire, taking down the Twins’ palace once and for all. It’s probably the best feel-good moment of the entire movie, as you knew there and then what they stood for.

Dislikes

1. Zero cameos. In a universe that’s filled with characters, there was nothing. Not even a snippet. This is a show that features Ahsoka Tano and Luke Skywalker, yet when the budget happened, they couldn’t have anybody else in? I’m shocked, considering we’re in an era where Legends matter more and more. I never go into films expecting surprise cameos, but this is a movie that could’ve definitely benefited from it.

2. I want to talk about The Mandalorian for a moment, Din Djarin. We saw him without the helmet for the better part of 10 minutes. I know people like this, but I wasn’t a huge fan. We have seen who the Mandalorian is, but I wanted to see more of who Din Djarin was. We never really got that, as we only see Pedro Pascal’s face for a short amount of time. It’s also fairly poor that in some scenes, you can blatantly tell it’s not Pedro in the suit either.

3. A lack of depth is prevalent in the movie. The Mandalorian hasn’t grown at all despite fighting against the Empire for so long, and Grogu never did either. He got a grip on his powers a bit better, but that was it, really. I wanted to see Grogu more involved in the action, but he was frequently in the background running scared despite having force abilities that he can absolutely control (case note the Din vs. Rotta fight). You only have to look at when he saves Rotta from falling near the end.

4. The movie, in a nutshell, wasn’t needed. We all could’ve continued being Star Wars fans without this movie ever happening. At times, it feels like it’s just been made from a merchandise perspective. It does genuinely make me fear for the future of Star Wars if this is the route they go down. They got a small pass because of how popular The Mandalorian already was, but will it always be that way?

Recommend?

This isn’t a film I’d recommend someone going out of their way to see. If you’re a fan of The Mandalorian show, then it could be a worthy watch or if you like Star Wars in general. The Mandalorian is still my all-time favourite TV show, and even I’m not fussed about watching this again. That probably says everything you need to know about The Mandalorian and Grogu as a movie experience.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is available in cinemas worldwide. You can visit here for more information on IMDb.