The Mandalorian and Grogu: A Mixed Bag for Star Wars Fans

Building and maintaining an entertainment franchise is a difficult task that few have managed to pull off entirely successfully. You would be hard-pressed however to find one that squandered as much goodwill as Star Wars has. While there have been a few creative successes in the recent glut of movie and TV installments, much of it has been uninspired at best and downright sloppy at worst (I’m looking at you The Rise of Skywalker).

The first season of Disney+’s The Mandalorian was one of the bright spots, telling fun, brief stories about the adventures of the title character, played by Pedro Pascal, and his tiny cargo, known then only as “baby Yoda” before his name was revealed to be Grogu. The simple storytelling and cinematic special effects drew us in, and the adorable little green child hooked us. Subsequent seasons were not quite as good, but it was still one of the better entries in the modern era of Star Wars.

After how badly the Disney-owned Lucasfilm managed to botch the series’ films (Episode IX really took a toll), they have now pinned a lot of their hopes on The Mandalorian and Grogu, which once again sees series creator Jon Favreau at the helm, along with co-writers Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor. With an end result that plays a lot like a very extended episode of the show, I don’t know that it will do much to engender audience goodwill towards future films, but it isn’t actively bad either, so that’s something.

The threadbare plot basically amounts to Mando and Grogu being sent on a mission to rescue Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White), the only heir of the now deceased Jabba the Hutt, from captivity on behalf of his aunt and uncle. In exchange, they will provide the Rebellion with the location of a mysterious, high-ranking Empire official. But Rotta doesn’t want to be rescued, insisting that his relatives are in fact aiming to kill him so as to remove any obstacles to their rule over the Hutt criminal enterprise, and insists that he can guide them to the same fugitive.

It’s pretty much non-stop action from the get-go, and several sequences are truly thrilling, with a chase through the cyberpunk city of Shakari being a particular highlight—even if the aesthetics of the city itself feel somewhat out of place with the rest of the franchise. It can all begin to feel like a bit much however, and by the end it’s hard not to sense the edges of boredom creeping in before the finale arrives to re-enliven things.

Had the story been fleshed out a bit better, this could be a standout entry. There are several interesting ideas here, with the internecine conflict among the Hutts seeming like it could be especially rich material. Alas, it is largely glossed over in service of moving us from one set piece to another. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of fun to be had here, but it’s hard not to think that it could have worked better as The Mandalorian season 4.

It isn’t the comeback that the franchise desperately needs, but The Mandalorian and Grogu is no disaster. The leads remain charming and engaging, the production design is spectacular, the thrills are relentless, and Ludwig Göransson’s theme is still an earworm. If you’ve been missing seeing Star Wars on the big screen this should satisfy your craving, as long as you keep your expectations in check. ★★★