The Mandalorian and Grogu: This Is the Way to Make Star Wars Exciting Again

Nobody hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans. Everything beyond the original trilogy has been divisive. Those who love the prequels hate the sequels, and those who love the sequels hate the prequels; some think The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars film, others think it’s the worst; some think Disney-era Star Wars is in decline, while others point to dramatic masterpieces like Andor and Rogue One. Star Wars fans can’t seem to agree on anything except for one thing: everyone loves baby Yoda, which is perfect because this movie rests on his tiny green shoulders alongside Pedro Pascal, whom, incidentally, everyone also loves.

Baby Yoda is, of course, not a baby Yoda at all but Grogu, a foundling of the same species as Luke’s cantankerous Jedi master. Grogu’s name wasn’t revealed until the fifth episode of the second season of The Mandalorian, which is partly why the moniker stuck. The Mandalorian and Grogu follows the events of the third season of The Mandalorian, where Din Djarin (Pascal) formally adopts Grogu and decides to loan his services to the New Republic, which was established after the fall of the Galactic Empire in Return of the Jedi. The Mandalorian is a dad now, after all, so he needs to set a good example for his kid, formally known as Din Grogu.

It’s a fitting direction for the erstwhile hired gun in a film that arrives just a month ahead of Father's Day. The Mandalorian was always a father-son story, anyway, a space Western featuring the Lone Wolf and Cub archetypes traversing the galaxy, righting wrongs and saving the day. The Mandalorian and Grogu is much of the same, but viewers who come in cold with no prior knowledge of the Star Wars series on Disney+ will manage just fine. The first Star Wars movie in almost seven years is a standalone adventure that casual viewers and new fans can dive into without much introduction, but since it’s a Star Wars movie, the opening crawl will set the stage, anyway.

The Galactic Empire has fallen, but pockets of loyalists still hold sway in the outer fringes of the galaxy, establishing their own fiefdoms and commanding their own small militia of Stormtroopers. Din Djarin now reports to Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver), a former pilot and leader of the New Republic’s squadron stationed on planet Adelphi. Mando is tasked with obtaining information that will lead to one of the Empire’s last holdovers, Lord Janu (Johnny Coyne) from the television series, but he’ll need to deal with a pair of Huttese twins who need him to run a dangerous errand first. This leads to a planet-hopping escapade that sees father and son visit places like the Hutt home world of Nal Hutta, depicted for the first time on the big screen, and introduced to a new cyberpunk planet called Shakari that looks like the shady side of Coruscant. 

We get to meet characters like Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta (Jeremy Allen White), who doesn’t share his father’s sedentary lifestyle and has a shockingly ripped physique. Rotta has big shoes — metaphorically speaking, since Hutts don’t have feet — to fill, and his father casts a long shadow that he longs to get out of. Rotta and his daddy issues make him a perfect complement to the young Grogu, and the relationship between the two disparate-sized aliens is a definite highlight of the film. Did I mention this was a Father’s Day movie? It’s definitely a Father's Day treat, filled with action, melodrama, and thanks to Grogu, a healthy dose of comedy. Din Djarin holds up the first act of the story, but this is The Mandalorian AND Grogu, and the pint-sized Force-sensitive actually gets to show off his mettle in an unexpected second act before the explosive finale.

Make no mistake, this Star Wars story is really for kids. Aside from tangential parental themes, The Mandalorian and Grogu is a straightforward adventure with no attempt at gravitas or political relevance like Andor, or deeper exploration of various Star Wars themes like The Acolyte. Lucasfilm President and CCO Dave Filoni (who also cameos as a New Republic pilot), who co-wrote the script with Noah Kloor and director Jon Favreau, serves up a rollercoaster romp that ticks all the boxes of a summer blockbuster without being weighed down by thought-provoking plots or narrative symbolism. What it does have, instead, is a hover pram full of Easter eggs and cameos for Star Wars fans to remind them how fun the franchise can and should be. Casual viewers won’t miss a thing, but The Mandalorian faithful will recognize the story as a continuation of the series with its various references and cameos from the Adelphi Squadron, including Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee of Kim’s Convenience) and Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios (voiced by Steve Blum) from Rebels. Just as cute as Grogu is a crew of Anzellans, those tiny mechanics from The Rise of Skywalker and Season 3 of The Mandalorian, who provide an equal amount of comic relief.  

For something aimed at a young audience, Favreau makes the curious yet genius choice of animating several characters and creatures in what appears to be stop-motion animation. It may well be CGI, but the movements are janky and puppet-like, which hearken to the special effects of the original trilogy. Ludwig Göransson’s score for Shakari has a techno vibe, lending the entire film an old-school, familiar feel that should make parents who are just introducing their kids to Star Wars feel at home. The Mandalorian and Grogu is a perfect way to bring Star Wars back to the big screen — a light, self-contained adventure with a charismatic lead (who actually shows his face in violation of the Way of the Mandalore because why cast OG Zaddy Pedro Pascal if you won’t show his gorgeous face?), an endearing second fiddle, and a galaxy’s worth of merchandise. Because the truest measure of The Mandalorian and Grogu’s success is the amount of Mandalorian and baby Yoda — sorry, Grogu — toys, shirts, bags, bag charms, and all manner of collectibles are on the shelves. So go out, enjoy the movie, and pick up an animatronic Grogu or something. Star Wars is back, baby!

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