The Mandalorian & Grogu is a 2026 action/adventure film set in the Star Wars universe directed by Jon Favreau and starring Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White, Steve Blum, and Martin Scorsese. As a Star Wars fan, this was a very exciting feeling theater experience because it’s the first Star Wars film to hit theaters in over 6 years and I was starting to get the itch again, so I was pretty excited walking into this one. This also felt like an event at my local theater. I go to the movies pretty often, I’d say more than the average joe for sure, and there was a different feel to the theater as a whole for this opening night. They had displays and cutouts set up in the lobby featuring Mando & Grogu and other various Star Wars characters, they were selling special exclusive merchandise for the movie at the concession stand (got a neat popcorn tin myself), and the theater itself was packed with fans. Which I guess is to be expected considering it’s a Star Wars film and it was opening night, but just as a whole this was one of the more fun and memorable trips to the theater because of the overall experience and what the theater themselves did to make it feel like a special event. All that said though, did it live up to the hype? Seeing a lot of varying opinions today on it, but mainly in the positive so far, so let’s get into it shall we?
I’ll just start off by saying that this film was overall just a breath of fresh air for me within the Star Wars universe. Like I said, I’d been getting the itch here again recently for a new Star Wars movie, but back in the late 2010s, recently after Disney acquired the property from Lucas, they were murdering us with new movies and content within the Star Wars universe to the point that it almost felt like overkill. Not to mention that personally, I didn’t think ‘The Last Jedi’ or ‘Rise of Skywalker’ were anywhere near some of the best work within the universe and felt like head scratching drags to get through at times. So, they were due for a break from all of that to let the dust settle and the wounds heal. The Mandalorian though is probably my favorite thing that Disney has made with the Star Wars property since they bought it. It always felt original and cool and spent time with an entirely different cast of characters than we were used to really seeing, not to mention I have a real soft spot for bounty hunters in the Star Wars universe, so it’s always felt like a breath of fresh air to me. That’s what I mean when I talk about this film as well, it didn’t have the highest world ending stakes and it’s not part of the Skywalker Saga and doesn’t deal with that realm of characters, but I actually really enjoyed that about it. This felt, like the series did in a way, like a sort of space western following a badass gunslinger around the universe as he tried to complete missions and bounties for the New Republic, and of course Grogu was there as well to add in his usual cuteness.
One of the things I thought about a while before this movie came out though was that it was going to have a hard time setting itself apart from the series and feeling like a major ‘Star Wars level movie experience’ because Disney already spent so much money making the series itself that it looked like movie quality anyways, and I’m here to report that I was kind of right about that, but I’m not mad at it actually. If I liked the show a lot anyways, then why wouldn’t I like an experience that feels like a 2-hour 12-minute Mandalorian episode played out on the big screen? At least that’s my thinking. If you really liked the show, then you’re almost certain to at least get a kick out of this film if nothing else. There are still some pretty big moments of cinematic action though, don’t get me wrong. As I sort of mentioned before, it didn’t have the biggest universe-ending stakes either, but it didn’t need to. Not every Star Wars movie needs to be saving the world against the ultimate evil, especially those outside of the Episodic Saga, so I’m actually happy that this felt in ways more like a lighthearted action/adventure film set within Star Wars. What do you expect though when Grogu is the 2nd lead? Not that he isn’t powerful, the boy is the same species as Yoda for goodness’ sake, but he’s just too damn cute to take all that seriously because he’s still so small and makes baby noises.
The Hutts were a pretty big influence over this movie as well, feels like it’s been a minute since they’ve been able to play a major part on film, so it was kind of cool to get a little more of that lore. Rotta the Hutt was a cool character to bring back and add into the mix here as well, the kind-hearted Hutt, voiced by Jeremy Allen White in this film. We’d really only ever seen him as a baby on screen up until this point and well, he’s not a baby anymore. Martin Scorsese, although his part is small, is pretty hilarious as well voicing a food truck owner that Mando questions for information. It was also really cool to see Sigourney Weaver in here; she’s like the queen of action/sci-fi so it only felt right. From Alien, to Ghostbusters, to Avatar, she’s been a part of some pretty major franchises and was a welcome addition to Star Wars as well in my opinion. I liked that they let Grogu have the driver’s seat for moments of this movie as well, he was still certainly the sidekick to Mando, but he was given some time to set out on his own adventure also. Sort of a gripe though, as I kind of mentioned before, is that Grogu doesn’t really feel like he’s grown much as a character or with his powers since the beginning of the series honestly. I get that with his species they grow slow and it takes time and that makes sense, but as a viewer I want to see SOME growth man! I still enjoy his character, like I said he’s cute and I like that he was given some time to himself in this movie, but I guess I was hoping for a bigger growing moment with him in general. Disney realizes that he’s a money-making machine though because kids and women alike are in love with him, I mean c’mon he’s undeniably adorable.
That’ll just about do it for this one though folks. I could keep talking, but I’m worried if I say much more, I’ll spoil too much and I do want people to go see this movie because I want it to do well. I’m not exactly sure where they go from here with their story because it didn’t feel like an ending necessarily, but I’m cool with that because I really like Din-Djarin/Mandalorian as a character a lot and I’m excited to see what comes next for Grogu. Go check it out in theaters now! Make sure to like my page on social media and come back to the website often to keep up with all my latest posts over horror films, new releases, WWE, and more! Thanks for the time and until next time, be good to one another. This is the Way.
