Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu – Film Review
by Fran Winston 

Directed by: Jon Favreau
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder, Jeremy Allen White, Sigourney Weaver

In cinemas May 22 

It has been over six years since the last Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, was released on 20th December 2019. Despite this, the franchise has gone from strength to strength, thanks in no small part to spin-off TV shows including The Mandalorian.

For those who don’t know, the show was set five years after Return of the Jedi, and followed Din Djarin (Pascal), a lone Mandalorian bounty hunter who was hired by Imperial remnants to retrieve an infant named Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, but ends up on the run with him instead.

It was a massive success. With season one landing in November 2019 and season two in October 2020, it also benefited from people stuck at home during the pandemic who may not have discovered it otherwise. Indeed, the coronavirus desert meant they had to wait until March 2023 for the third and final season.

Therefore, it arrives in cinemas with a solid fan base. Add that to the general Star Wars fans who lap up anything set in the universe, and this is a guaranteed hit no matter what reviewers write.

That is just as well. I was a big fan of the TV show, but this does nothing to move Mando and Grogu’s story forward and feels more like a longer episode of the series than a bombastic big-screen outing.

Din Djarin is now working for the New Republic following the fall of the Galactic Empire. He and Grogu (who is now officially his apprentice) are hired to rescue Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy Allen White) in exchange for information from the Hutt clan on a New Republic target.

It’s a pretty simple premise that sticks to the Star Wars ‘space western’ ethos. There are plenty of the shoot ’em up scenes that people have come to expect from Star Wars, but cinephile Favreau also has nods to plenty of other movies, including Apocalypse Now, Total Recall and The Wizard of Oz.

While these Easter Eggs are fun, they can’t detract from the fact that the story feels rather dragged out. It is lacking the melodrama you expect in Star Wars, and this could easily have been a 90-minute TV movie instead of a 135-minute big-screen outing.

One difference from the TV show is that Grogu gets a significant amount of solo screen time. While the little guy is undeniably cute (yes, I do indeed have a plushie), it does feel like a shameless attempt to sell merch.

Pascal also seems to be dialling it in a bit as he voices Mando in this offering. For those not aware, he is not inside the suit for most of the movie – that falls to John Wayne’s grandson Brendan Wayne and stuntman and suit actor Lateef Crowder (who don’t get nearly enough credit for bringing the character to life). There are five minutes in the film where you see Pascal, and the rest of the time he is merely lending his dulcet tones to the role – but it all feels rather half-hearted.

Fans of the show will love this, but it is likely to fall flat with those expecting an epic Star Wars outing. The love of the franchise and film in general is there in every frame, but overall, the premise is lacking and falls flat. Audiences are smarter than they are given credit for, and most will surely feel a bit short-changed by this.