The Mandalorian and Grogu Review

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is a continuation of The Mandalorian TV series. As Imperial war criminals continue to scatter throughout the galaxy, Din Djarin, aka The Mandalorian, and his little sidekick Grogu hunt them for bounties on behalf of the New Republic. As far as bringing them in, Dead or Alive, it’s the Alive part that Din has been having problems with.

For his latest job, Colonel Ward has a new target for Din. The mysterious Lord Janu is on the run, and nobody knows where he is, much less what he looks like. However, New Republic spies have been offered information on his whereabouts by the Hutt crime lords. If the Mandalorian retrieves Rotta the Hutt, Jabba’s son, from captivity, they will provide information on Lord Janu.

Reluctant to have anything to do with the Hutts, Din Djain and Grogu take the job. But they soon discover they are entering a complex web of politics and treachery that even The Mandalorian will struggle to escape.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is simply a fun movie. It feels like Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni got all their Star Wars toys together and just started acting out adventures, but on a bigger budget. (And literally one of the ship designs was taken straight from a Kenner toy from the 1980’s.) That love of Star Wars is apparent on every frame of the screen.

This may have a higher number of Easter Eggs than any other Star Wars movie. There are nods to The Phantom Menace, Rogue One, Solo, A New Hope, The Clone Wars, and more. They even took a random alien, known as Amanaman, from Jabba’s Palace (and yet another Kenner action figure) and made his race one of the film’s main villains. Be careful sitting next to a die-hard Star Wars fan during this movie, as they’ll be pointing stuff out to you throughout the film.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu has a lot of tremendous action. The opening scene is one of the more memorable ones as we see Din Djarin take on three AT-AT’s and their crews. This looks especially cool in the IMAX presentation as the size of the AT-AT’s is really enhanced.

There are other great action moments, including ship battles, hand-to-hand combat, and even a gladiatorial arena. In yet another nod to the previous films, the holographic chess pieces from A New Hope are brought to life, and we see a full-on monster battle and city rampage that would make King Kong proud. One particular car chase even starts to feel like the groundwork for a new Disney theme park ride.

But it’s not all action. There are some visually striking moments throughout the film. Some shots of the X-Wings against sunrises are beautiful. Scenes in the swamps of Nal Hutta with Grogu are reminiscent of Yoda and Dagobah. Some of the city scenes feel like the Star Wars version of New York City. You could take almost any frame from this and use it as a great screensaver image.

Industrial Light and Magic gets to flex every muscle they have in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. As mentioned, the production design is beautiful. They also make extensive use of CGI, but the practical effects are also notable. The puppet work with Grogu makes you forget you’re watching a puppet.

And they even throw in some stop-motion effects, which appear to have been animated by Phil Tippett and his crew. As The Mandalorian battles two giant robots, they have the “go motion” look pioneered by Tippett in the original trilogy. It further adds to the sense of nostalgia.

As for the cast, we don’t see many of the actors. The notable addition to the cast is Queen of Sci-Fi Sigourney Weaver. She’s not given a lot to do here, but seeing her in Star Wars piloting an X-Wing fighter is a lot of fun.

While I had seen the previous three seasons of The Mandalorian, I wondered if someone had to have watched them to follow what was going on. The good news and bad news is that you do not have to have seen the TV show to follow this. It stands on its own. And while that’s a positive thing in some respects, it’s a drawback in others.

The biggest problem with Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is that very little actually happens story-wise in the movie. The characters are exactly the same at the end as they were in the beginning. There are no major revelations about their pasts, as there were in the TV show.

There are no big character reveals or major connections to the other films like in the previous seasons. It’s very much standalone, which is great for new fans but not so great for loyal fans of the TV show. For a theatrical version of the TV show, it felt like it needed something more noteworthy.

The other big problem is pacing. This movie feels like four episodes of the TV show played back-to-back. It feels like it has distinct chapters in the storytelling, which works when you watch episodes a week apart, but here it feels rather disjointed. You have a very action-heavy moment followed by a painfully slow stretch that feels unnecessarily strung out. A chapter featuring Grogu in what’s essentially a solo adventure grinds all the momentum of the story to a halt.

Despite its PG-13 rating, this film is aimed directly at younger fans of Star Wars. If you were an elementary-aged child seeing this, you’d say it was the best of the Star Wars films. For older fans who enjoyed more serious stuff like Rogue One or Andor, this is going to be somewhat of a disappointment. But George Lucas made Star Wars for kids, so you know what you signed up for.

While I did love the Easter Eggs and nods to the Kenner toys in the moment of the film, in hindsight, I realized Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu brings very little that’s original to the table. If the ships and aliens aren’t directly from the previous films, they’re riffs on those designs. The Mandalorian is a variation of Boba Fett. Grogu is a variation of Yoda.

The AT-AT here is slightly different from the ones in The Empire Strikes Back. The Hutts are variations of Jabba. Zeb is an early Ralph McQuarrie version of Chewbacca. I think the only original creature in the film is an alien Grogu encounters in the swamp, that’s a Star Wars version of a Cajun alligator. I would have liked to have seen more original production design and more corners of the Star Wars Universe revealed.

I’ll also mention that I wasn’t a fan of Ludwig Göransson’s music this time around. It worked for me on the TV show, but on the big screen, it just made me miss John Williams. One scene featured heavy synthesizer music that felt like the worst of 80’s sci-fi. The orchestral score from the previous films was timeless. This felt like a step backward.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is a fun film and worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. It’s required viewing for any Star Wars fan, though it’s not a flawless film.

People always ask me how I’d rank the Star Wars live-action movies, so here’s where I’d currently place them. But ask me again in 10 minutes, and I’d probably change my rankings.

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Return of the Jedi
4. The Force Awakens
5. Rogue One
6. The Last Jedi
7. Revenge of the Sith
8. Solo
9. The Mandalorian and Grogu
10. The Phantom Menace
11. Attack of the Clones
12. The Rise of Skywalker

STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU REVIEW RATING: 6.5 OUT OF 10

Lucasfilm will release Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu in theaters on Friday, May 22, 2026. The film has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for sci-fi violence and action.