It’s hard to keep up with what’s going on with Star Wars these days. After finishing up the sequel trilogy with the jumbled Rise of Skywalker (a movie I enjoyed, though I found it sloppy as shit), all feature films were put on hold or canceled and the focus pivoted to streaming shows, both live action and animated, on Disney+. After years of theater silence, Disney announced they would turn their most popular show, The Mandalorian, into a feature film: The Mandalorian and Grogu.
After my disappointment in the sequel trilogy, I altered my expectations of all things Star Wars. Between all the new movies and shows, it had ceased to be as special as it was when I was younger. And that’s fine. I told myself that Star Wars used to be special, but now it’s just another franchise I like. All I want from Star Wars is decent action and set pieces, a little bit of humor, and something I can enjoy with my children. With that mindset, I took my kids to see The Mandalorian and Grogu.
On the first point, the film is a huge success. This doesn’t feel like a 2+ hour movie because it is filled with action. Just like the show, the action moves from one planet to another in seconds. There is no planning or fretting or building a team. It’s just, “We need to go here.” Cut to: a ship coming out of hyperspace at said planet. So there’s not much time for character development or big revelations. But there is plenty of time for shooting droids and fighting giant, gross beasts.
As for the humor, that depends on how cute and funny you find Grogu (AKA Baby Yoda) and the little Babu Frik creatures that mumble like the Star Wars version of the Minions. Grogu still works for me, and Babu Frik was one of my favorite parts of Rise of Skywalker, so I had a few laughs with this. And I looked it up and the Babu Frik things are Anzellans, but if you knew that you probably hated this movie without even watching it, so who fucking cares?
Finally, and most importantly, will kids like this? Mine certainly did. My two oldest children (nine and seven) have been great movie-goers for a while now, but I still find it impressive when they sit through over two hours of a live action movie without needing to use the bathroom or ask a hundred questions. The Mandalorian and Grogu kept their full attention throughout.
But this isn’t a straight-up kids movie or anything. It’s rated PG-13, and it’s arguably the most violent film in the franchise. My kids were fine aside from my daughter being a little scared a couple times at some of the more menacing aliens. But it’s still a lot of shooting and killing. Sure, it’s mainly droids and CG aliens, but there’s still a level of brutality to some of the action that isn’t there in the other films.
The Mandalorian and Grogu cleared my admittedly low bar for an acceptable Star Wars movie, but others might be rightfully disappointed with it. It is a continuation of the TV show, and since that show already achieved its biggest moments (even giving the two main characters a satisfying closure), there isn’t much for them to do here. If this was a three or four episode arc on the show, I would consider them fun but inconsequential episodes for the overall series. If you’re just looking for more Mandalorian action, this is fine. If you’re expecting some big, world-changing moments, you’ll be disappointed.
Because of that, this is the first Star Wars movie that doesn’t really feel like…well…Star Wars. There is no opening crawl; there are credits at the beginning; there isn’t a lightsaber (not even the Darksaber), etc. Even the music is quite different. In fact, I found the music (by Ludwig Göransson, who worked on the show) to be one of the most interesting aspects of the film. I love the classic John Williams stuff, but that music is for a different type of Star Wars movie. This is different, and the music matches that.
It might be hard for some fans to accept, but Star Wars is different now. I’d argue it’s been different for over a decade, and people should already be used to it. You can either make your peace with it and enjoy a new movie from time to time, or you can start hating nearly all of it. I want to like Star Wars. It’s far too easy these days to poke holes in everything and ruin it. I’m guilty of this, but not with Star Wars. It might not be special the way it was thirty years ago, but it will always be a special franchise for me and my children. It’s just different now, and that’s okay.
Random Thoughts (SPOILERS)
It’s probably a bad sign that I didn’t reference the plot at all in my review, but it’s truly inconsequential. I guess it’s interesting that they brought back the Hutt from the Clone Wars movie (you know, that other Star Wars movie that doesn’t matter?), but I didn’t really care.
I wish they didn’t add Star Wars to the title.
The opening credits might be pissing some people off (and if that’s the case, just stop and think about what it means if an opening credits sequence makes you angry), but I liked the wackiness of seeing Martin Scorsese’s name onscreen in a Star Wars movie.
Good for them for not having any mid- or end credits bullshit. It was nice to just get up and go when it was over.
The arena battle was like the holochess (I know, I know, it’s Dejarik) game from A New Hope. And the giant droids near the end were given some stop-motion style movements that I appreciated. (Update: I just watched the Red Letter Media video about the film, and they brought this up and pointed out that it was stop motion done by Phil Tippett.) This movie does look great, and all the creature and droid animations have come a long way.
People might complain about this movie not mattering, but did any of the sequel trilogy movies “matter”?
I did a full series rewatch (including The Book of Boba Fett) for this, and that was not necessary.
I guess Sigourney Weaver is kind of taking the place of Carl Weathers. I wish they would have acknowledged him in some way, though. (After a quick Google, apparently there is an Easter egg or two for him, so I guess there’s that.)
I’m still enough of a dork to recognize Dave Filoni in a small role.
The movie truly is a two-hander with Grogu when he takes care of a dying Mando for an extended sequence. It’s arguably the best segment of the film.
I loved all the mishmashed droids at the Hutt palace.
Is it a Hutt requirement to have a giant beast under the floor in their hangout room?
Not sure why they had to get Jeremy Allen White for Rottu, but whatever. He’s fine, I guess.
So the series and now the movie make it seem like it was a priority to stop former Empire guys from starting a new Empire, or perhaps a First Order, but what the fuck happened? Is it all just because of Thrawn or something? How many Disney+ series will it take to explain how this bullshit happened. I truly wish they would just scrap the sequel trilogy from canon.
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