By Ben Wright (@Iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review is spoiler-free.
The Mandalorian & Grogu follows Din Djarin and Grogu on a new standalone adventure as the pair get dragged into another dangerous mission involving old enemies, new allies, and problems spreading across the galaxy. It mixes bounty hunter action, quieter character moments, and that classic Star Wars feeling of bouncing from one strange corner of the galaxy to the next, while still keeping the focus firmly on the bond between Din and Grogu.
One of the bigger complaints I have already seen floating around is that The Mandalorian & Grogu just feels like a few episodes of the Disney+ series stitched together and released in cinemas instead. And honestly, I can kind of understand why some people feel that way, to a point. There are definitely moments where you can almost sense where an episode break would have happened. At the same time, though, I think people are leaning a bit too heavily into that criticism as a way of downplaying what the film actually does well. You could probably apply that argument to a lot of films if you really wanted to. The important thing for me is that the story still works perfectly fine as its own self-contained Star Wars adventure. You do not need to have watched every episode of The Mandalorian or spent years buried in the wider lore to follow what is happening here. The film gets you up to speed quickly enough and then just gets on with telling its story.
At the same time, though, if you have followed the wider Star Wars universe, especially the animated shows and expanded lore, there is definitely extra stuff here for you to enjoy. There are a few moments that got a proper reaction from the audience in my screening, but thankfully, it never disappears too far into fan service either.
More than anything, the film is just fun. Proper old-school Star Wars fun. It jumps between planets, throws weird creatures at the characters, gives us scrappy fights, ship battles, and a bunch of entertaining set pieces. One section in particular barely uses any dialogue at all, which honestly surprised me a bit, but it worked really well. It was a pretty bold choice and ended up being one of the standout parts of the whole film for me.
The action is good across the board, too. Some fights are smaller and messier, others go full chaos with ships blasting around everywhere. There is a one-shot fight sequence that was especially great to watch on the big screen. The film never really drags either. There is maybe a slight slowdown in the middle, but overall it keeps moving at a solid pace.
Performance-wise, Pedro Pascal is exactly what you would expect at this point. If you like him as Din Djarin already, you will like him here too. He just slips back into the role so naturally now that it barely even feels like acting anymore.
The newer cast additions were the bigger surprise for me. Sigourney Weaver was clearly having a good time as Colonel Ward, and honestly, there is just something really cool about seeing Sigourney Weaver sitting in an X-Wing cockpit. That alone was enough to win me over a little bit. She has some fun back-and-forth moments with Din throughout the film as well.
Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt was another surprise because I genuinely was not expecting the character to have such a big role in the story. But then again, if you cast Jeremy Allen White, you are probably not bringing him in for thirty seconds of screen time. It ended up working far better than I expected.
Then there is Martin Scorsese randomly showing up as Hugo Durant, which still feels bizarre to even type out. For the first few minutes, I genuinely could not stop thinking, “That is literally Martin Scorsese in Star Wars.” Weirdly, though, it works. And fair play to the effects team because you can still absolutely recognise him underneath all the alien makeup effects.
I was also really happy to see Steve Blum back as Zeb, especially because he gets much more to do this time around. There is one moment involving Zeb that had a few Rebels fans in the cinema very happy. Shirley Henderson returning as the voice of the Anzellans was great too, and a lot of the little Grogu comedy moments actually landed pretty well without feeling overdone.
Tone-wise, this is definitely aimed at a broad audience. It has that lighter adventure feel running through most of it, even if there are still a few kills and darker moments that feel very in line with The Mandalorian series. If younger viewers have already watched the Disney+ show, there is nothing here that suddenly feels much heavier than that.
The humour mostly works as well. Thankfully, it does not fall into that constant modern Marvel-style need to undercut every serious moment with a joke. The comedy usually comes naturally from the characters and situations instead.
Visually, going heavier on practical effects was absolutely the right move. For me, Star Wars always works best when things look a little rough around the edges and lived in. The creatures, costumes, and sets all help give the film that proper Star Wars feel. You can tell when something is physically there on set rather than just actors standing in front of a green screen. With that said, there were still a couple of moments where the CGI looked a bit rushed, especially during some of the larger action scenes. Nothing bad enough to ruin the film or anything, but noticeable here and there.
The Mandalorian & Grogu is not trying to reinvent Star Wars or do anything massively unexpected. It is just a fun, entertaining adventure with good action, strong character moments, and enough heart to remind you why people connected with these characters in the first place. Sometimes, that is all Star Wars really needs to be.
X-Geeks 