Tonight's Movie: The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

Things are starting to get back to normal here after our recent unexpected evacuation. It's hard to believe almost a week has past since that incident began.

Our original plans to see THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU (2026) over the holiday weekend had to be cancelled, but we were able to catch up with it today.

I'm a fan of the MANDALORIAN TV series and reviewed the very first episode here back in 2019. In 2022 I also shared photos from our visit to Star Wars Celebration: The Mandalorian Experience.

One of the reasons the series appeals to me is it's basically a "space Western," as the late Jeff Arnold described in a 2019 column at Jeff Arnold's West. That likeness was never more apparent than in the new movie, which was, in essence, a STAR WARS "B" Western.

The plot finds the Mandalorian, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal, THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS), and his adopted son Grogu working for the New Republic.

The Mandalorian tracks down holdouts pushing for a return of the Empire, and as part of that he is tasked by Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver) with rescuing the kidnapped Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White), son of the late Jabba.

The hope is that by returning Rotta to his family they will in turn share valuable information about someone on the colonel's "most wanted" list. Perhaps not surprisingly, nothing goes as planned...

At the outset I'll say that the movie doesn't even attempt to reach the heights of the very best STARS WARS movies, and that's most apparent with the poor score by Ludwig Goransson. Some majestic Williams-esque music would have gone a long way to heighten the excitement and underline the character's relationships. We occasionally hear the faintest thread of an original STAR WARS theme, but that music always fades away after a few bars.

The cinematography by David Klein is also quite dark, an annoying trend in recent years.

From the standpoint of those issues, it's rather lazy filmmaking, as the movie could have been much more. That said, I try to review what is, rather than what I wanted, and what did end up on screen is a perfectly pleasant "popcorn movie," rather akin to the TV series.

The film reminded me of lesser "B" Westerns, in which character interactions are very frequently interrupted by our heroes riding around on horseback and shooting it out with the bad guys. There's a lot of "riding around and shooting" in this movie, but those scenes are interspersed with some delightful moments.

What can I say? I'm a big fan of Grogu, colloquially also known as "Baby Yoda." Everything about Grogu is charming, including his incessant need for snacks and the way his eyes light up during exciting adventures with his "dad." Because of my Grogu fandom, my overall review comes down closer to that of Erik Kain of Forbes, who calls the movie a "hilarious little space Western."

You have to love Grogu running up a tab at a snack stand run by an informant (Martin Scorsese, of all people, in a funny performance) or being fed by Rotta. Rotta, it turns out, wants to be as different from his evil father as possible, and he dotes on Grogu, one of the film's more charming aspects.

I also laughed every time the tiny Anzellan mechanics referred to Grogu with names such as "the horrible baby," followed by those same Anzellans determined to rescue the imperiled Mandalorian "for the baby." Every aspect of the Anzellans' relationship with Grogu is adorable.

And of course, I love the ongoing relationship between father and son. One might question the Mandalorian taking a "baby" into very dangerous settings, but such is the world they live in, and this baby is growing smarter and more powerful all the time, to the point he can care for his father as much as his father protects him.

The fact that one of the main characters wears a helmet and one is actually a puppet, yet they have a moving and endearing relationship, is rather remarkable, really.

Circling back to the Rotta character, I also enjoyed the echoing of Luke Skywalker's relationship with his own father, underscoring once more that family history doesn't have to repeat itself.

Another plus is that some of the neon set design calls to mind San Fransokyo of BIG HERO 6 (2014), while a swampy sequence with Grogu and a fisherman calls to mind not only Yoda's THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) swamp but...the beginning of Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride?!

There's a nice callback to both the MANDORIAN and AHSOKA series with the return of Paul Syung-Hung Lee as Captain Carson Teva. Steve Blum plays the Mandalorian's pilot friend Zeb.

Although he's unseen, John Wayne's grandson, Brendan Wayne, once again wears the Mandalorian suit, with Pascal voicing the character and appearing in a brief helmetless sequence. (Those "in the know" understand that Mandalorians don't typically remove their helmets.) Lateef Crowder wears the suit for stunt scenes.

THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU was directed by Jon Favreau, who cowrote the script with Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor. (Filoni can be spotted in a cameo as Trapper Wolf, his character from the TV series.) The movie runs 132 minutes.

Parental Advisory: This film is rated PG-13. It's a STAR WARS movie: Lots of non-gory shoot-'em-ups, alongside positive themes about family and doing the right thing.

A trailer is here.

In the end, enjoyment of THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU will probably come down to expectations and whether a viewer can enjoy a "lesser" STAR WARS film. As a "glass is half full" viewer I found it an enjoyable time at the movies, and I will return to it in the future.

To put this film into context with my overall feelings on STAR WARS movies and series, the original three films are among my all-time favorite movies, probably all in my Top 10. I also appreciate ROGUE ONE, SOLO, and ANDOR...but I will never, ever watch the half-dozen prequel or sequel films again!

Related reviews: ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016), STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (2017), SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (2018), STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (2019).

Tweet