The Mandalorian and Grogu Movie Review
There are only a few movie franchises that my husband and I must see in theaters. No matter what month or day of release, we’re absolutely making plans to see almost any new Batman, Spiderman, Planet of the Apes, James Bond, and Star Wars movie. We’re all caught up on the lore and truly enjoy the different storylines, so we can’t miss out on a new edition. We recently scheduled a movie date to see The Mandalorian and Grogu on the big screen, the latest and most awaited release from Lucasfilm Studios.
Before we dive into the details, here’s a warning that I will be mentioning spoilers. If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to go check out some of my other posts and come back to this one once you’re caught up. Leave a comment below to let me know what you thought of the movie!
The Mandalorian and Grogu was released on May 22, 2026 and was directed by Jon Favreau. He co-wrote the film with Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor. Fresh from his obligations for HBO’s hit show Last Of Us, fan favorite Pedro Pascal returned as Din Djarin.
The whole premise of the plot is that Mando and Grogu are working for the New Republic to rescue Rotta the Hutt in exchange for information on an old Imperial who is still loyal to the fallen Galactic Empire. Seems like a pretty decent idea until you remember that they scrapped season four to produce the movie. Unfortunately, the plot probably better suited a straight to Disney + release instead of forcing a box office run.
The themes in the movie were slightly too episodic and disjointed. It seemed like each “mission” Mando and Grogu went on wasn’t necessarily connected to a larger, overarching objective. There was no short, quick lore thrown in to provide context to why they were trying to find the Imperial or what the New Republic was working on. There also weren’t a lot of meaningful side characters. The entire movie was just Mando and Grogu instead of them having different arcs and moving pieces.
The older movies and the prequels paced extremely well. There were multiple objectives, missions, and characters to help make important moments feel more high stakes. Even though no one died in the Mando movie, I walked away feeling like nothing was accomplished or changed either.
Personally, I wasn’t a fan that Rotta spoke English instead of Huttese, but I’m assuming the writers wanted to convey that he was completely different from Jabba and his other relatives. While I do love Zeb in Rebels, I feel like the movie didn’t do him justice since he was reduced to only being a getaway pilot. On the other hand, I did appreciate that Embo and his dog were included into the storyline since it was a nice nod to The Clone Wars TV series.
There were multiple times during the movie where I thought, “Okay, this could have just been season four.” In fact, about halfway through, there’s a moment that cuts to a long black screen that simulates the end of an episode. I’m surprised they kept it in, but I guess they wanted to have consistency with the editing style.
Today’s Disney isn’t the Disney that produced lifelong classics like Cars, the original Mickey Mouse cartoons, The Cheetah Girls, and many others. Instead, today’s Disney tends to enjoy pushing narratives and inserting subtle themes into scenes that don’t need any extra emphasis. For example, the company has come under criticism for depicting same-sex marriages across different shows and movies that has led to entire countries and advocacy groups completely banning certain titles.
And we can’t just turn a blind eye to the recent blunders by Disney to the Star Wars franchise specifically including the sequel trilogy, The Acolyte, and even The Book of Boba Fett. The majority of die hard fans have lost faith in Disney to produce actually significant and meaningful Star Wars content.
Knowing the backstory, I can’t lie and say I wasn’t nervous to go see the Mando and Grogu movie. Not only did they let the series sit for almost three years while they were in production, but I saw the marketing ploy, also known as Grogu, from a mile away. He’s small, green, cute, cuddly, and is the same species as Master Yoda. It was a lay up for people to start calling him “Baby Yoda” when he has absolutely no correlation to him.
He’s easily marketable for products and since success is often measured by profits, he’s green gold for the brand. The biggest downside to Grogu is that Disney just seemingly forces his screentime for no true reason. It would be different if his scenes were genuinely pushing the story forward, but so far, he hasn’t had a significant impact.
The pinnacle of the show was definitely when Luke and Ahsoka showed up in the season two finale. It was peak Star Wars and you felt so excited to see them save the day. You truly felt like it was a turning point that would impact the trajectory of the story.
If you’re a casual looking for a cool, low-stakes action movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu fits the bill, but if you’re deep into the Star Wars lore, it’ll leave you wanting for more. The cinematography was decent, the music was engaging, and there were plenty of explosions, but it was lacking in true substance.
The film cost about $300 million and has only grossed $173.7 million worldwide so far, making history as the lowest opening box office sales for any Star Wars movie ever released. Even the questionable sequel trilogy and Han Solo movies performed better.
It has received roughly a 5 out of 10 rating across critics. Rotten Tomatoes even said, "Bountiful in action but threadbare in narrative thrust with its episodic structure, this Star Wars is more of a skirmish that coasts on the charm of its central dynamic duo." I’d agree with the consensus that it was a fun movie, but definitely weak, predictable, and inconsequential.
Justifying an entire movie because of the 2023 writer strikes in Hollywood was a little crazy when you really think about all the extra time that was wasted. The viewers who genuinely liked the Mandalorian show had to sit on the back burner for years just to get a movie that wasn’t truly up to par.
Regardless of the shortcomings, blunders, and missteps, I’m way too invested NOT to give everything released a shot. I can only pray and hope that Disney is able to turn things around, but I’m honestly not holding my breath.
If you enjoyed this musing, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Like, comment, share, and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next!
Signed,
Jessica Marie
