Club Benefits
- Rating: ★★½ stars
- Verdict: "The Mandalorian and Grogu" is just season 4 of "The Mandalorian" condensed into a 132-minute film. The writing is lazy; the story is ultimately pointless; and Ludwig Göransson's synth-laden score is a surprising miss. Still, if all you want is Baby Yoda, you'll likely be entertained.
- Where to watch: See "The Mandalorian and Grogu" in theaters now
"The Mandalorian and Grogu" was always going to be set up to fail. This movie was added to the Disney theatrical slate only after Lucasfilm decided to pivot from an already written season 4 of "The Mandalorian" on Disney+. Having now watched it, I don't know that they ever changed the story; I think they merely threw stuff out to cut down on runtime.
Now, if that had been the story Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni (who makes an egregious fan service cameo) and Noah Kloor had stuck with, maybe there would have been some potential here. Hunting down remnants of the Empire would have tied in nicely with "The Mandalorian" season 3, the upcoming "Ahsoka" season 2 and the entire Grand Admiral Thrawn storyline that the Filoni-led 'Star Wars' universe seemed to be on.
But unfortunately, the movie abandons that story halfway through, seemingly committing the same errors of other 'Star Wars' properties in recent years. Whether it's 'Solo,' 'The Acolyte' or 'The Rise of Skywalker,' this franchise has been afraid in recent years to commit to an interesting storyline that has a risk of falling flat. Instead, 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' opts for boring, watered-down or less consequential stories that leave fans disappointed time and time again.
The one thing that this movie hasmthat those other three properties didn't is Grogu, which is this film's saving grace. Despite flashes of potential from Jonny Coyne's Lord Janu and an intriguing backstory for the swole Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White), Grogu is the only character that shines over the more than two-hour film. It's enough to entertain you, but not enough to make this movie good. At best, it's just enough to save it; at worst, it proves that Lucasfilm has no idea what to do with 'Star Wars.'
Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022. He watches dozens of new releases every year to make sure you don't have to watch any of the bad ones.
This 'Star Wars' movie is a series of baffling choices
The premise of this movie is for The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal/Brendan Wayne/Lateef Crowder) and Grogu (an adorable puppet) to hunt down the enemies of the New Republic. The trailer portrays this as meaning primarily former Imperial warlords, but as we see, it also includes a pair of Hutts known as the Twins.
Unfortunately, it's the Twins that end up being the main focus of the storyline. Not only does this saddle us with less interesting characters, but it turns the film's plot from a straight line into a circle, ultimately dropping us off right back where we started after 132 minutes.
But this is far from the only baffling choice the movie makes with its primary antagonists. If you saw "The Book of Boba Fett," you've met these Hutts before. They arrive on Tatooine to take over Jabba's empire. In this movie, they're still fixated on that quest, hoping to obtain their illustrious, infamous sibling's criminal enterprise through his son, Rotta.
In their first appearance, the Twins are imposing, just like Jabba had been in the original 'Star Wars' trilogy. A large part of this comes down to their deep vocal register and their use of the language Huttese. It creates an ominous tone, especially since not everyone in a given scene can necessarily understand what they're saying.
In "The Mandalorian and Grogu," though, the Hutts only occasionally speak Huttese. Instead, they frequently opt for Basic (the equivalent of English). In the case of Rotta, there's some story justification for this choice, but in the case of the Twins, it diminishes their presence and aids in reducing them to almost cartoonish villains by the end of the film.
This movie struggles to decide if it's a kids' movie or a movie for older audiences throughout, sometimes delivering fun moments with Grogu and his buddies and other times showing Mando torching and stabbing people.
The charitable take is that this decision is to make the film more accessible, which it's clear "The Mandalorian and Grogu" tries to be. This movie struggles to decide if it's a kids' movie or a movie for older audiences throughout, sometimes delivering fun moments with Grogu and his buddies, the diminutive Anzellans, other times showing Mando torching people, stabbing them and even dropping crates on them to squish them to death.
These missteps are far from the only negative mark on the film. There are no quality exchanges of dialogue to speak of; a character is literally named after the actor who plays them. Most stunning of all, Ludwig Göransson's incredible score from the Disney+ series is back, but it's polluted with synth on several occasions. I'm not exaggerating that if you simply removed the synth from where he inserted it, the score would become exponentially better.
Verdict: 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' should be watched on Disney+, where it belongs
"The Mandalorian and Grogu" can't decide if it's for kids or for adults. It can't decide if it's a movie or a condensed season of a show. Its story feels lazy and inconsequential, failing to move the narrative of its characters forward while simultaneously treading water rather than advancing the general storyline of 'Star Wars' established in past seasons of "The Mandalorian" and other shows that preceded this movie.
And yet, you'll probably have a good time.
Despite all its flaws, there's no denying that Grogu is an incredible character that can't help but make you feel good. It's really a masterstroke of character creation that has to be applauded. And the action sequences in this film are largely enjoyable, even occasionally downright satisfying.
But just because you'll have a good time doesn't mean the movie is good. When I was in my screening, people were laughing on several occasions. They clapped at the end of the film. Yet, as I walked through the crowd, I overheard people say that the movie was "fine," "entertaining" and "decent." I didn't hear anyone say it was good, great or that they couldn't wait to see it again.
Simply put, "fine" isn't enough of a reason to go out for a night at an IMAX theater for something that feels made for Disney+. Instead, you should wait for "The Mandalorian and Grogu" to hit the streaming service, where it belongs.
This is the way.
"The Mandalorian and Grogu" is in theaters now
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