Movie Review: "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" Is a Fun, Pleasantly Low-Stakes Adventure
Last week I had the opportunity to attend an advance screening of Lucasfilm's new movie Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, and below are my mostly spoiler-free thoughts.
Prior to my screening on Thursday, I wrote an opinion piece right here at LaughingPlace.com about how what I wanted most out of The Mandalorian and Grogu was for the movie to surprise me. And I can say right off the bat in this review of the complete film that it did not surprise me in the way that I wanted it to... which, I suppose, was its own sort of surprise. What did catch me off guard, in a way that I really liked, was how intimate and character-driven the narrative is, especially in its back half.
But let's start at the beginning-- Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is a big-screen continuation of the Disney+ live-action series The Mandalorian, co-written and directed by series creator Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Chef, Disney's 2019 The Lion King reimagining). The movie picks up where the show's third season left off, with Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin having settled in for a life of work alongside his young Force-wielding ward and apprentice Grogu, popularly known as "Baby Yoda." Djarin is voiced by actor Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, The Fantastic Four: First Steps), who also portrays the character when Djarin's helmet is (rarely) taken off. Most of the rest of the time, Din's Beskar armor is inhabited by skilled body double Brendan Wayne and impressive stunt performer Lateef Crowder, both of whom received the loudest rounds of applause the two times I have seen the film's opening credits.
That should bring you up to speed on where the movie begins, and its story kicks off with Djarin and Grogu working for the fledgling New Republic (this takes place some years after the Galactic Empire fell in 1983's Return of the Jedi), tracking down Imperial remnant warlords, like the one played by Hemky Madera (Spider-Man: Homecoming) in the excellent ice-planet opening action sequence. Then we meet the newly introduced character of New Republic Colonel Ward (Alien / Ghostbusters / Avatar star Sigourney Weaver-- I liked her performance more in the context of the finished film than I did in the 25-minute IMAX preview), who sends the Mandalorian and Grogu on their next mission alongside Garazeb "Zeb" Orellios (Steve Blum, reprising his voice role from the animated series Star Wars Rebels): helping the twin Hutt gangsters from Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett track down their wayward nephew, who they say has been kidnapped and held prisoner on a seedy underworld planet called Shakari.
The New Republic's reasoning for wanting to assist these Hutts makes sense within the framework of the story, and ties into the larger goal of cleaning up the galaxy in the wake of the Empire's collapse. And from this point on, I'm not going to give away any specific story details, except to say that the two title characters subsequently encounter a reluctantly helpful Ardennian fry cook (voiced by Goodfellas filmmaker Martin Scorsese) and become acquainted with the target of their quest: Rotta the Hutt (The Bear's Jeremy Allen White), who is the son and closest living heir to deceased Tatooine mob boss Jabba the Hutt, who died at the hands of Princess Leia in ROTJ. If you're able to wrap your brain around most of that, you should be able to grasp what's going on in the remainder of The Mandalorian and Grogu; it doesn't really require any additional foreknowledge of the Star Wars universe or even, remarkably, the "Mandoverse" of live-action Disney+ series.
Which brings me to what is probably my most significant observation after having seen the finished film: it is undoubtedly aimed at casual Star Wars fans and general moviegoing audiences, which absolutely makes sense as the franchise enters into a new era under its recently appointed president (and another co-writer of the movie) Dave Filoni, who got his start at Lucasfilm Animation. The entertainment industry as a whole is undeniably on shaky ground right now, so designing this first theatrical outing in seven years to be accessible to as many people as possible feels more than prudent. And that's not to say that tried-and-true Star Wars devotees won't get a kick out of this adventure-- there are laugh-out-loud, pointing-at-the-screen Easter Eggs to be found here as well... you just probably shouldn't expect any major character crossovers or tie-ins to the other goings-on around the galaxy during this post-Imperial storytelling period, except for what I've already mentioned above.
I don't mind giving that away publicly before the film's wide release, because I also feel that those tempered expectations should help you appreciate this story for what it is: a pleasantly low-stakes (the galaxy isn't in danger here; it's really just a few lives) escapade that zooms in on the working and father/adopted-son relationship between Din Djarin and Grogu. There's some wonderful action throughout, but my favorite moments actually ended up being the quieter beats between the fighting, during which we receive plentiful reinforcement of just how indispensable these two warriors are to each other. And yes, I call Grogu a warrior because he really comes into his own as an active combatant here-- there are numerous memorable moments that had me astounded at Grogu's tenacity, not to mention at the puppeteering expertise that brought him to life on screen.
On the downside, outside of Grogu's advancements as a plausibly central protagonist, we don't get a tremendous amount in the way of character development, or even really narrative forward momentum, for Djarin and his little green son. I know and appreciate that The Mandalorian and Grogu is largely meant to be a standalone installment in the Star Wars saga, but even the most novice of screenwriters can tell you that the most important thing characters need to do in stories is change. I can say without spoiling too much that that doesn't really happen here, and that was probably my biggest disappointment as the movie's end credits rolled. I suspect that when all is said and done, you might be able to skip this entry entirely on subsequent rewatches of the Mandoverse and not feel like you were missing a whole lot of development in terms of the characters' journeys. If that idea bothers you, you may want to opt out of the theatrical experience and simply wait for the movie to pop up on Disney+ in a few months.
On the other hand-- the hand that argues you should check it out in the theater with lots of hooting and hollering fans around you-- what The Mandalorian and Grogu does succeed at being, from top to bottom, is fun. The film is jam-packed with hero-vs.-monster battles, harkening back to the Star Wars franchise's mythological roots, and in scope it often reminded me of Lucasfilm's made-for-TV Ewok movies of the mid-1980s... if they had souped-up IMAX-engineered action sequences, that is. I also want to call out the jaw-dropping production design by Doug Chiang and Andrew L. Jones, and the innovative musical score by series veteran Ludwig Göransson is especially terrific... I plan to pick up the vinyl record release as soon as I can. And yeah, one of the most frequent criticisms you're going to hear (and have likely already heard) about this movie is that it basically just comes across as three or four new episodes of The Mandalorian stitched together, and I'm here to tell you that criticism-- outside of the showstopping action-- is pretty much accurate. But, in my opinion The Mandalorian is, for the most part, a really great show that often already felt cinematic across its three existing seasons. So if you enjoyed these characters and their exploits on your smaller screen at home, Disney and Lucasfilm are hoping that you'll plunk down whatever it costs for admission at your local movie theater and similarly enjoy them on a much bigger (hopefully IMAX-sized) screen. I believe you will, too.
The Mandalorian and Grogu will be released into theaters this Friday, May 22.
My grade: 3.75 out of 5 Star(War)s.