By Ben Wright (@Iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review is spoiler-free.
LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian retells the story of the first three seasons of The Mandalorian through the usual LEGO lens, revisiting familiar moments with an unreliable narrator, plenty of LEGO humour and some new material along the way.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this one, but it’s a fun addition to the LEGO Star Wars collection. The story is essentially a condensed version of the first three seasons, with familiar scenes getting the usual LEGO treatment. The new material comes through the “flashbacks”, although these are fairly tame and, if anything, feel a little too similar to the Season 1 finale. There’s nothing particularly bold about what’s been added, but the humour and little changes to familiar scenes keep things entertaining.
Visually, I really liked what they’ve done here. The animation is clean and leans heavily into the stop-motion style, which gives the whole thing a really charming feel. There’s something about seeing the little LEGO characters moving around like this that just works, and I much prefer it to something that tries to make LEGO look like a more traditional animated movie.
I also wasn’t expecting just how much of the original cast returned. It’s genuinely impressive to hear Amy Sedaris, Katee Sackhoff, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Burr and Emily Swallow among the familiar voices. Having so much of the original cast back gives the film a nice connection to the live-action series. There are a few noticeable replacements, including for the titular Mandalorian himself, and they’re probably more obvious because so much of the rest of the cast is the same. Once you get past that, though, it isn’t too distracting.
If there’s one thing that holds it back for me, it’s that the film plays things pretty safe. It relies heavily on retelling the first three seasons, and while the LEGO humour and interactions with familiar scenes are fun, I would have liked to see it take a few more risks. LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special did a better job of mixing familiar characters and moments with something that felt genuinely new. This is still enjoyable, but it does feel more like an extra LEGO version of The Mandalorian rather than something that brings a completely new story to the table. The timing of the release also makes it feel like a nice companion piece to The Mandalorian & Grogu, which is fine, but probably explains why it feels a little familiar.
The returning cast and the quality of the faux stop-motion animation are easily the strongest parts, while the familiar characters and LEGO humour make this an easy watch for Star Wars fans of pretty much any age. It doesn’t need to do anything revolutionary to be enjoyable, and sometimes a fun LEGO Star Wars adventure is exactly what you want.
LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian is an enjoyable and entertaining movie that’s perfect for Star Wars fans of all ages. The cast and quality of the faux stop-motion animation are the strongest parts.
X-Geeks 