Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
After the fall of the Empire, the New Republic's Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver) enlists bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal and Brendan Wayne) and his young apprentice to rescue Rotta the Hutt (voice of 'The Bear's' Jeremy Allen White) in order to get the Hutt cartel to help locate an Imperial Warlord in "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu."
Laura's Review: B
The first film in the Star Wars franchise since 2019's "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" is certainly better than the last one, a film so forgettable I had to look up my own review to remember what it was about. I'm also happy to report that one doesn't need to have seen the Disney+ series, 'The Mandalorian,' in order to follow what is going on here, something the MCU should take heed of. I haven't seen a single episode and found cowriter (with Dave Filoni & Noah Kloor)/director Jon Favreau's film to be an entertaining adventure, albeit one which adds little to the Star Wars' saga. I assume Grogu's advancements here, the child venturing out on his own, instead add to the series' story.
The film, which Disney keeps reminding us was 'shot for IMAX,' opens with the Mandalorian acting as vigilante contractor, sent to the Outer Rim to capture Imperial Warlords for information. But the Mandalorian, young Grogu perched on his shoulder, is prone to blowing up things, sending multiple AT-AT Walkers tumbling off snowy cliffs before blasting an escaping ship out of the sky, killing everyone. Colonel Ward, encamped in multiple Quonset huts on what looks like Hawaii, is not amused and when the Mandalorian bristles at his next assignment, stating he no longer deals with criminal enterprises, bribes him with a vintage, restored ship.
After meeting with the aunt and uncle of Ratta on Nal Hutta, Mando and Grogu head to the Moon of Shakira, which looks an awful lot like "Blade Runner's" L.A. Mando heads to a food truck to get a snack for the little one and to get information from its Ardennian fry cook (voice of Martin Scorsese!), a creature that looks like a four-armed monkey. Turns out a Jumbotron behind him is advertising Ratta's whereabouts, Jabba's son now a champion gladiatorial fighter, but when Mando finds him caged, Ratta has no interest in escaping, stating that his debt to Lord Janu (Jonny Coyne) will be paid off with his last fight the next night and that his aunt and uncle want him dead to assume his father's throne. Ratta also begins to bond with Grogu, tossing the tyke tasty treats. Mando's next gambit is to attempt to buy the remainder of Ratta's debut from Janu, but he's told that Janu has imported many monsters for the next night, which he plans on being Ratta's last. Mando is captured and awakens to find that he will be fighting Ratta, little Grogu caged in the arena next to Jadu. Ratta will realize he needs to join forces with Mando in order to survive and they'll all escape when Mando hurls an electrified creature at the electrified fence protecting the audience, short circuiting it and allowing their escape, Zeb Orrelios (voice of Steve Blum) swooping in to pirate them away. And, it appears, Mando has accomplished Ward's mission in his own way, stymying the Hutts' plan to get their nephew back, Ratta's instincts having been right all along.
Back at his home base, Mando calls in a team of four Anzellans, cute little creatures who look like miniature Ewoks and talk like Minions, to repair his ship, but as night falls, a Hunter and his wolf-like dog arrives, stuns Mando and spirits him away to Nal Hutta, where two betrayed Hutts first humiliate him by taking his helmet, then cast him into a watery pit full of some pretty nasty creatures. When Grogu awakens and realizes what has happened, he takes off with the Anzellans in their little ship to save Mando.
I've seen complaints that this plays like several episodes of the series stitched together, but to my uninitiated eyes, it was an action packed adventure where the adoptive son figure, Grogu, matures enough to be able to save the father figure, Mando. Even more surprisingly, Ratta turns out to be an interesting character in his own right, a son who rejects his father's legacy. The animatronic Grogu puppet, which was second on Favreau's call sheet, is seamlessly incorporated into the action. Mando and Ward have that age old relationship between every police chief frustrated by the effective loose cannon on his force. Favreau may let his film run a little long, and while a number of set pieces are all based on genre tropes we've seen before, we've still got Grogu and a bunch of uniquely crafted monsters to liven things up. Ludwig Goransson's score is also notable, the film beginning with unique sounding woodwinds (a baroque recorder), the music expanding into an orchestral score played by a 106-piece orchestra.
Disney releases "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" in theaters on 5/22/2026.
