Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
Director: Jon Favreau
Writer: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Noah Kloor
Sequel to: The Mandalorian TV show
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Blum, Jeremy Allen White, Jonny Coyne, Matthew Willig, Martin Scorsese, Hemky Madera, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Shirley Henderson
Seen on: 30.5.2026
Part of: the Star Wars movies

Plot:
The Mandalorian, Mando for short (Pedro Pascal, Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder), and his adopted child/apprentice Grogu travel through the galaxy on bounty hunter business, usually procured by Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver). And Ward has a new job for them: Jabba the Hutt’s son Rotta (Jeremy Allen White) is missing. His aunt and uncle are distraught, or so they say. They need him back. The Mandalorian needs some information that they can provide. So he accepts the job. But things are more complicated than they seem.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is okay. I didn’t love it, but I enjoyed it, even though it had some lengths. The cast is good, but I feel like there was something missing.

I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan (in fact, I only just realized that I hadn’t seen the entire original trilogy as I had previously thought), but I have seen my fair share of the newer stuff – like The Mandalorian TV show that I really enjoyed (although I didn’t love it as much as Andor). It as one of the best theme songs, Mando is a captivating character and Grogu is just the right amount of cute. With the narrative all about Mando finding Grogu and becoming responsible for him and having to decide if he is the kind of guy who can take this responsibility, the show also has a story to tell.

The Mandalorian and Grogu doesn’t really have a story to tell, I felt. Our two protagonists get send on their way, take a few misdirections and then they are where they’re supposed to be. In the meantime, there is a lot of action that I found borderline, if not outright, boring, and a few jokes that are funny, but also a little stale. Like, we laughed at them when we heard them the first time, but by now they only get us to chuckle softly, if at all.

There are definitely moments that land. I absolutely enjoyed the dynamic between Grogu, Mando and Rotta (Jeremy Allen White does a really good job voicing him). And Sigourney Weaver is always a treat, especially in space (her role here reminded me a lot of her role in Dust Bunny, which deserves more love, though she was definitely funnier in Dust Bunny). I do find it interesting that neither the show, nor the film resisted the urge to take Mando’s helmet off, it makes me think about letting the audience get away with non-consensual voyeurism, if you will, while Mando kills everybody on-screen who sees his face. But that is more interesting on a meta-level than within the specific context of the film.

Overall, though, to me, this feels like a paint-by-numbers affair. Like somebody got a checklist out of things that do well in focus groups and then made sure they were all included, but didn’t much think about any grander vision. And that is a pity. It makes the film feel hollow – and it had chances to be more than that.

Summarizing: a bit disappointing.