That’s not only because The Mandalorian is one of only two Disney+ series that worked (you can probably guess the other).
Director Jon Favreau, who created The Mandalorian series, has our attention during a terrific prologue that lays out the current state of the Star Wars universe after the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
Rotta the Hutt in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu Lucasfilm LTDThen again, even if Grogu himself was created to sell plush dolls to kids, there’s no denying that he’s freakin' adorable.
Here, he’s almost matched in the cuteness department by the Anzellans, diminutive creatures from The Mandalorian and the kid-skewing series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures.
Instead, it’s burdened with having to reset cultural expectations for the franchise, at least until Star Wars: Starfighter is released in May 2027.
According to Disney’s official synopsis, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is about the titular bounty hunter and his young apprentice being enlisted to help the "fledgling New Republic fight to protect what the Rebellion won." According to many in Star Wars' battered fan base, the movie is about the title bounty hunter and his young apprentice being enlisted to save the entire franchise, and it had better be so amazing that it gets them excited about Star Wars again, makes them forget a decade's worth of disappointing films and TV series, vacuums their living rooms, and cures cancer. Of course, no movie can do all that, but The Mandalorian and Grogu — divorced from unreasonable expectations — is a thoroughly satisfying and often thrilling addition to a Star Wars movie universe that desperately needs a boost.
In what is now considered settled history, after buying Lucasfilm in 2012, money-hungry Disney flooded the zone with Star Wars content, assuming fans would eat it up like pigs at a trough. But much of it was, to be charitable, substandard. Indeed, The Mandalorian and Grogu would not have been asked to resuscitate the franchise had Disney only released 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the best films they produced. Instead, after cranking out one too many lackluster movies and streaming series, The Mandalorian wound up being the best card Disney had to play if it wanted to sell Star Wars movie tickets. That’s not only because The Mandalorian is one of only two Disney+ series that worked (you can probably guess the other). It’s also because The Mandalorian, according to the audience measurement company Nielsen, was the most-streamed Star Wars title with Gen Alpha, meaning a slam-dunk big-screen adaptation could indoctrinate millions of young viewers into consuming Star Wars content well into the future.
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Whether The Mandalorian and Grogu — the first Star Wars theatrical release in seven years — helps get the galaxy far, far away back on its feet has yet to be determined, but the film’s first ten minutes prove that the franchise clearly has a heartbeat. Director Jon Favreau, who created The Mandalorian series, has our attention during a terrific prologue that lays out the current state of the Star Wars universe after the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Although the Empire has fallen, Mandalorian Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) is hired to find one of the many Imperial warlords who have held on to power throughout the galaxy. The resulting battle between Din and a trio of AT-ATs on a rocky, snow-covered mountain is a knockout, rich in production detail and epic in scale.
This opening skirmish also reminds us that the Mandalorian is a truly cool combination of Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name and Lone Wolf from the Lone Wolf and Cub movies. Every slight move of his hips or tilt of his head accentuates his gunslinger vibe. His physicality is so crucial to the character that the names of Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder, who play the Mandalorian when his helmet is on, appear in the opening credits (this is the first Star Wars movie with traditional opening credits), right behind Pedro Pascal, who provides the Mandalorian’s face and calm, controlled voice.
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Screenwriters Favreau, Noah Kloor, and promising new Star Wars overlord Dave Filoni (taking over for Kathleen Kennedy) stick to the mission-based concept of the series but widen its scope, allowing Mando and Grogu to visit other worlds that each look spectacular. Dolling out his assignments is Colonel Ward, played by Alien, Avatar, and Ghostbusters icon Sigourney Weaver, who’s now this close to filling up her franchise loyalty punch card and earning a free frozen yogurt. Ward tasks Mando with finding the Imperial leader, Commander Coin, who is so mysterious that no one even knows what he looks like. His search first takes him and Grogu to the Hutt homeworld, Nal Hutta, where two Hutt leaders know Coin's location. But they won’t divulge any information until Mando travels to Shakari to bring back their nephew (and Jabba the Hutt’s son) Rotta the Hutt, who is being held in captivity and forced to fight in gladiatorial battles for throngs of bloodthirsty spectators.
The Hutt species plays a crucial role in The Mandalorian and Grogu, and while most fans don't know much about the slug-shaped creatures who enslaved Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi, it turns out less is probably more. Rotta (voiced by Jeremy Allen White) sports six-pack abs — or maybe eight-pack; it’s hard to tell — and has serious daddy issues meant to contrast against Mando and Grogu’s protective father-son dynamic. But expecting audience sympathy proves a bit of a stretch, especially when Rotta’s dialogue is so oddly casual compared to the baritone threats made by almost every other Hutt in the movie series. Later, when he and Grogu frolic together on the beach, it only confirms that Star Wars is not at its best when blatantly catering to the younger crowd.
Rotta the Hutt in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu Lucasfilm LTD
Then again, even if Grogu himself was created to sell plush dolls to kids, there’s no denying that he’s freakin' adorable. Part of his endless charm is that he's mostly a practical, animatronic puppet and that artificiality, ironically, makes him more real. Here, he’s almost matched in the cuteness department by the Anzellans, diminutive creatures from The Mandalorian and the kid-skewing series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures. They assist Grogu after Mando is captured by Embo, the Kyuzo bounty hunter from The Clone Wars and the coolest-looking Star Wars bad guy since Darth Maul.
The all-CGI creatures are equally impressive — and often gruesome — including a giant alabaster snake monster and the aliens that Rotta the Hutt faces in the gladiatorial ring. They're some of the highlights of a production that's an across-the-board triumph, from designer Mary Zophres's scruffy, lived-in costumes to production designers Andrew L. Jones and Doug Chiang's staticky monitors and dirt-smudged control panels. Each planet is dressed to impress, from the future-noir Shakari (which looks like Mando landed on planet Blade Runner), to the swampy Nal Hutta where the busy finale unfolds. Elsewhere, ace composer Ludwig Göransson takes some chances with his varied score, including a playful end-credits passage that won't exactly send audiences out on a John Williams-type high.
Lucasfilm LTD
Had Disney been better stewards of Star Wars, The Mandalorian and Grogu would serve as an entertaining side adventure while the main trilogy — whatever that turns out to be — unfolds in blockbuster fashion. Instead, it’s burdened with having to reset cultural expectations for the franchise, at least until Star Wars: Starfighter is released in May 2027. Even if the film doesn’t expand Mandalorian lore or deepen his character — it’s really just a supercharged, high-budget episode of the series — that doesn’t diminish its success as a supremely enjoyable journey that proves this stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder of a franchise still has some life left in it.
