Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
2.5 out of 5 stars

By J.C. Correa

“We hired you to hunt down war criminals. If you don’t like it, I got nothing for you,” affirms Colonel Ward, a high-ranking officer of the New Republic, to Mando, the first of the two title characters in the new Star Wars movie based on the Disney+ hit series The Mandalorian. Ward is played by none other than science fiction cinema legend Sigourney Weaver, in the type of stunt casting that is meant to resonate strongly with geeks, while simultaneously upping the project’s pedigree. Ironically, this basic, expository statement also functions on a more meta level, as if it were written as a direct address to the franchise’s fanbase. It’s another way of saying that most of what you once loved about Star Wars is very much a thing of the past, and that this iteration of it is essentially what we’re currently stuck with. 

After a dormant seven years since the dreadful The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars returns to the big screen in as safe a way as possible by doubling down on its most popular offshoot since then. In fact, it’s curious to note that The Mandalorian debuted on television at approximately the same time that Disney was forced to put the series’ theatrical ventures on moratorium due to the catastrophic reception of that last film. The good news (though this shouldn’t really surprise) is that Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is not the unwatchable mess that the infamous last movie to bear the Star Wars name was. But has the franchise really distanced itself so much from its culture-shaping glory days that the current barometer for success is essentially how much it doesn’t disappoint?

It’s important for me to clarify that this new movie, directed by Jon Favreau, creator of the TV show, is not exactly a terrible offering. It continues the story set up in the program, and primarily coasts on and further explores the dynamic between Mando (Pedro Pascal) and the cute-as-a-button Grogu, forever known to fans as “Baby Yoda.” By designing an adventure set in such a vast world of limitless possibilities, but subjected to inevitable recalls, it’s nonetheless stuck straddling the fine line between fresh storytelling and fan service. Yet, in some ways, that is a package that may ultimately relegate it to a fate far worse than that of the brand’s most notorious entries, which at least benefit from the decency of being talked about. With low stakes and an uneventful story that comes across as so unessential, The Mandalorian and Grogu commits a cardinal sin for which there should be no room in a galaxy far, far away: It’s mostly boring, and thus, quite forgettable.

Favreau, working off a script he co-wrote with current Lucasfilm head and George Lucas protégé Dave Filoni, as well as Noah Kloor (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett), from the get-go tries to isolate the film among the franchise by making sure it includes credits right after the opening titles. Another first is the decision to have the slug-like Hutts, who play a major role in the story, speak in fluent English for the first time, as opposed to their usual gravely sounding alien tongue. For his opening, Favreau constructs set pieces that try hard to look cool, but sadly lack the thrills associated with this IP’s best moments. To further help the movie carve out its own identity, composer Ludwig Göransson, a three-time Academy Award-winner who also worked on the TV show, purposefully gives certain sequences a heavy synthesizer treatment, and these electronic sounds unsurprisingly invoke the vibe of Blade Runner.

Without spoiling anything, the film’s plot involves Mando getting hired to rescue a Hutt named Rotta to then reunite him with his kin. Rotta, voiced by Jeremy Allen White, is the son of the infamous Jabba, but, from the waist up at least, more accurately resembles He-Man. Fans of Return of the Jedi in particular, may delight at this fresh take on this species, which goes as far as to explore their gladiatorial qualities as a way of stressing that their presumed immobility is merely a case of sloth and gluttony. Hutts aside, Mando stumbles upon a greater conspiracy concerning a criminal named Lord Janu (Jonny Coyne) who bears a striking resemblance to Alfred Hitchcock. Until we learn of the threat posed to Rotta – which occurs a good half hour in – the movie truly is a bit of a slog.  

No Star Wars flick would be complete without a menagerie of weird-looking aliens, and this one introduces a few noteworthy ones. As had been previously reported, Martin Scorsese does indeed get to voice a character, in this case an appropriately bushy-eyebrowed shopkeeper in the noir tradition that feels reminiscent of the know-it-all shoe shiner in Police Squad! It’s a harmless cameo. More impactful is a benevolent fisherman that Grogu bonds with in a crucial scene midway through the picture. Elsewhere, the monsters that served as the famous holographic chess pieces from the original Star Wars are nostalgically brought to life in the form of gladiators, with one of them looking suspiciously like a Stranger Things Demogorgon. Younger viewers might be genuinely frightened by a white dragon-snake that functions similarly to the Basilisk from Harry Potter. However, on the opposite end of that spectrum, most memorable of all will undoubtedly be a foursome of Anzellans, the tiny-looking critters that fans quickly embraced on both the TV show and The Rise of Skywalker, where that type of creature first made its debut. With their fussy demeanor as skilled mechanics, and old, frail-sounding voices, the sight of them forming their own little gang with Grogu should, at the very least, help sell some toys.

The aforementioned fisherman appears in a middle section of the film that, to my eyes at least, is clearly what Favreau intends to be the heart of the movie. Without giving anything away, it devotes a substantial amount of screen time to further develop the immense, familial bond between Grogu and Mando. Considering that that thematic tenet was a staple of the show, it’s understandable why Favreau would want to go down this road. The problem, unfortunately, is that its inclusion feels like a blunt tangent, drastically imposed upon us considering everything else that has gone on before that. It’s almost as if it suddenly wants to be an entirely different picture; one that feels the need to seriously play up the angle of Grogu’s cuteness in a way that it hasn’t had a chance to up to that point. And although it undoubtedly ends up being the best thing about the movie, it ultimately is too at odds with everything else around it to truly feel like the type of natural fit that would ideally aim to actually elevate it. 

Perhaps the most frustrating thing of all is the fact that Weaver’s presence ends up being practically inconsequential to the overall effect. That’s a sentence I never imagined I would have to write, let alone regarding a sci-fi property. But alas, there you have it. Through no fault of her own, her character is vastly underwritten, thus wasting her ample talents. You quickly conclude that hers is the type of role that could have been played by just about anyone.  

“The old protect the young, the young protect the old.” Besides being a statement uttered in the film, it’s a dictum that would ideally apply to the type of features that Disney ensures to make for this beloved brand. I do not fault Favreau and his team for trying to stake new ground within this universe by separating themselves, at least partially, from its established legacy. Though I suspect that, in order to properly accomplish that, they will need to fully rip the umbilical cord and not fear rebuilding the machine from the ground up. Until that happens, even someone as talented as the director of both the joyous Iron Man, and something as delectably sweet and personal as Chef, will end up with a product that resembles nothing more than another, albeit longer, episode of a TV show that was already running on fumes when it bowed out three years ago. Who knew that Star Wars could actually get to be so underwhelming?

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is currently playing in theaters.