Film Reviews

May 22, 2026

"The Mandalorian and Grogu" might just as well have been titled, "One Monster Battle After Another." In fact, the latter would have been more fitting because the movie, a bigger-budget adaptation of the "Mandalorian" TV series on Disney Plus (which many would agree declined in quality over the course of its three seasons) isn't really about the two titular characters. Rather, it presents a paper-thin, rudimentary plot that feels like a lame excuse to bring another "Star Wars" property to the big screen, and it reeks of being mailed in. At the end of it, I didn't really know what this story brought to the "SW" table other than filler.

Oddly enough, when the movie began, I thought of "Austin Powers" (of all things), in which the hero and villain were so clearly and laughably defined, just as they are here. However, "Austin Powers" was meant to be a parody, and "The Mandalorian and Grogu" plays this idea straight, so you can imagine my eyes rolling as early as the opening scene when one of the villains says lines such as, "Long live the Empire," only to quickly kill one of his minions (not unlike Dr. Evil in "Austin Powers"). Was the whole movie going to be this prosaic?

Of course, the Empire in question is the infamous Galactic Empire, which fell only a few years ago in this particular "SW" timeline. And for the uninitiated, the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), a.k.a. "Mando," a.k.a. Din Djarin, is a helmeted independent bounty hunter who abides by a strict moral code, which includes letting no one see his face. He's aided by his trusted adopted sidekick, Grogu, a.k.a. "Baby Yoda" (his unofficial nickname coined by fans), whose complete potential—and likely future role as a Jedi master—has not yet been fully realized.

Similar to the TV series, Mando and Grogu sustain themselves by taking odd jobs for the New Republic. Their handler is Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver), who charges the duo with rounding up the remaining Imperial Warlords. Quick sidebar: Weaver's presence in this movie seems to be solely based on her ties to other science fiction franchises, namely "Alien" and "Avatar," perhaps as a way for "The Mandalorian and Grogu" to add a little bit of meta to the mix. Unfortunately, Weaver's performance, stiff and monosyllabic, is one element that feels especially phoned in.

Mando and Grogu's latest mission is to track down and bring to justice Lord Coin, the faceless "Ace of Spades" on the Republic’s org chart of remaining Empire loyalists. A lead on Coin's whereabouts comes by way of the Hutt Twins, the siblings of the infamous Jabba the Hutt, but in exchange for information, the twins want the Mandalorian to rescue Jabba's son, Rotta (voice of Jeremy Allen White), who's imprisoned by the crime boss Janu (Jonny Coyne). Janu is using the uncharacteristically muscular and barrel-chested Rotta as a gladiator in an underground deathmatch à la ultimate fighting. Curiously, Rotta doesn't want the Mandalorian to rescue him, because Rotta thinks that if he wins just a few more matches, Janu will set him free.

Of course, there are other shenanigans afoot, which I’ll not reveal, and the Mandalorian and Grogu's seemingly easy search-and-rescue mission ends up being not so straightforward after all. But don't let this suggest that the movie's plot isn't straightforward, because it's essentially a series of typical "Star Wars" scenes, including battles between Mando and various creatures and sea-dwelling monsters; chase sequences involving speeder bikes and starfighters; martial arts fights; and jumps through hyperspace. Plus, there's the usual assortment of digital locations, sets, characters, and visual effects, which unfortunately render just as flat as the story (I’m thinking of a particular scene with rain), which seems satisfied with being run-of-the-mill.

I wish I could tell you there's more to unpack about "The Mandalorian and Grogu" besides it amounting to what mostly feels like an episode of a Saturday morning cartoon show (fine for kids, dull for adults), but I can't. The whole time I was watching it, I kept wondering, "When is this movie going to throw us a curveball?" Did it ever cross the minds of the filmmakers, not least director and co-writer Jon Favreau, a well-known and ardent "SW" fan, to infuse this story with some information and substance that would tell us something new about this galaxy and these specific characters? We walk out of it knowing just as much as when we went in, and during its nearly two-and-a-quarter-hour runtime, the movie never really gets us to feel anything.

The plot and action feel standard in terms of the science fiction genre, not to mention "SW," and there isn't much in terms of tension, doubt, or wonder, i.e., the qualities that make a story feel alive and consequential. Even for a movie expectedly safe and mainstream (it is a "Star Wars" movie after all), it's still so numbingly obvious who's going to prevail that the stakes never feel high, and we're never really scared or unnerved by the bad guys with whom Mando and Grogu must do battle. On top of that, the movie's simple platitudes and messages, e.g., "Life's messy, but we do the best we can," feel trite and uninspired. Even Grogu's eventual use of the Force comes across as a checkbox instead of a revelation.

To be fair, there is a mildly effective sequence before the final act in which Grogu must leverage his own resources and skills. It's quiet, observant, and meditative in its approach, and it gives us a glimpse into the characters' dedication to each other and their evolving identities and relationship, which is more interesting than simply threading them through a series hackneyed action sequences, the likes of which we've seen time and again.

Ultimately, it's hard to see beyond the mediocrity of "The Mandalorian and Grogu," and even though many "SW" fans will likely justify its making, I'm not sure what it accomplished, neither in terms of the TV series nor as escapist entertainment. And another thing I'm not sure of: why did two digital characters need celebrities to voice them? White's voice for Rotta is so electronically altered that it hardly sounds like him, and if I hadn't seen his name in the opening credits, I wouldn't have known it was him. And Martin Scorsese as Hugo Durant, the four-armed sandwich cart vendor? White and Scorsese are clearly talented for other reasons, but it's hard to hear what’s special about their vocal cords. Perhaps casting them was the filmmakers' way of adding more flavor to the movie because they sensed the story wasn't working on its own, and it therefore had to be augmented superficially. Whether or not that was the case, they would have been better off re-writing the screenplay and constructing a narrative that felt fresher and more meaningful, and that sought to go beyond a routine "Star Wars" movie.