The Mandalorian and Grogu (dir. Jon Favreau)
Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 131 mins
UK Distributor: Disney
UK Release Date: 22 May 2026
WHO’S IN THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU?
Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White, Jonny Coyne, Dave Filoni, Steve Blum, Martin Scorsese, Matthew Willig
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Jon Favreau (director, writer, producer), Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor (writers), Ian Bryce and Kathleen Kennedy (producers), Ludwig Göransson (composer), David Klein (cinematographer), Dylan Firshein and Rachel Goodlett Katz (editors)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Din Djarin (Pascal) and his apprentice Grogu are recruited for a new mission…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU?
The worst thing that any major franchise movie can be, whether it’s Star Wars or Marvel or James Bond et al, is boring. You can have all the usual ingredients that go into these films, but if that original spark is nowhere to be found in the script or direction, then it quickly becomes tedious to sit through, and more like you’re watching it out of obligation rather than genuine fan devotion. In terms of Star Wars, Attack of the Clones is in my opinion the low point of the franchise simply because, aside from all the usual criticisms (i.e. the dialogue, the performances, the romantic subplot etc), it is just not that interesting a movie to get sucked into. Say what you will about The Phantom Menace or The Rise of Skywalker, but those movies at least had a certain liveliness to them, which Attack of the Clones very much does not have.
Sadly, I had those same thoughts during The Mandalorian and Grogu, the feature-length continuation of creator Jon Favreau’s hit Disney+ series that, arguably more so than Attack of the Clones, feels like a chore to sit through. Beyond the fact that it really is just an entire season of the show condensed into a two-hour runtime, it’s a film where very little of consequence or even excitement actually happens, amidst imagery that is exceptionally bland – especially for a franchise known for its dazzling sci-fi atmosphere – and writing that barely scratches the surface of its characters. Which, for a show-turned-film centred around two of the most iconic figures in the entire franchise nowadays, is a massive failure.
The film – which, like the series, takes place between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens – picks up on Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), the masked bounty hunter who now exclusively works for the New Republic, and his young apprentice Grogu scouring the galaxy to find and capture fugitives from the fallen Empire. Their latest task, as given to them by New Republic commander Ward (Sigourney Weaver, given nothing to work with other than paragraphs of exposition dialogue), is to retrieve intel about a mysterious Imperial warlord from the Hutt Twins, cousins of the feared gangster Jabba the Hutt, who in return want Din and Grogu to rescue their nephew and Jabba’s son Rotta (Jeremy Allen White) from a life of fighting in gladiator arenas. And as oft goes with their adventures, along the way they encounter some deceitful baddies, get double-crossed, make new alliances, and almost all the usual stuff you’d expect to see in the world of Star Wars.
But Favreau, who also directed and co-wrote this film, no longer seems to be as enthused with the plot and characters he created, and it shows in a film that carries over very little, if any at all, of the intrigue and adventurousness of the series. His direction is weirdly passionless, particularly in certain sequences that go on for either far too long or not long enough, while his script (with input by Noah Kloor and new Lucasfilm head honcho Dave Filoni) bogs itself in generic dialogue that serves to explain the plot rather than develop any of the characters, both old and new. As a result, there’s little life to the action or even a reason to care about any of it here, especially since much of it is drenched in dimly lit and visually unappealing CGI – save for a couple of instances where it briefly calls back to the janky stop-motion effects of the original unaltered trilogy – that lacks the distinct charm of the more grounded, Western-inspired sci-fi aesthetic of the show.
Speaking of, those who have stuck with The Mandalorian through all three (thus far) seasons may well get some enjoyment out of seeing certain characters and hearing Ludwig Göransson’s admittedly awesome theme music on the big screen. But even they may feel let down since this feature-length adventure, a golden opportunity to flesh out its two primary heroes in ways that might not have been possible before, does nothing to further develop the characters or even give them any kind of singular arc. Din remains the same stoic figure he’s always been from beginning to end, and while Grogu is adorable as ever, there’s not much for him to do other than just be cute. Maybe that’s why they work better in a serial format, because their limited characterisation is enough for a set of standalone episodes but nowhere even close to sustaining a self-contained feature. For a movie called The Mandalorian and Grogu, it weirdly seems very disinterested in both the Mandalorian and Grogu.
It really is quite a bore, which is sad to say about a franchise I genuinely do enjoy most of the time (even though the rather toxic fanbase makes it very difficult to feel comfortable with even admitting that). But there just isn’t any spark to it, let alone a reason for it to exist other than the fact that it’s a popular Star Wars property. Something like this could have maybe passed as a Disney+ special, but on the big screen it has little of the visual splendour or genuine charm of past movies, while always feeling like more could have been done to make it a truly exciting and narratively engaging theatrical experience.
Overall, while I do still feel Attack of the Clones is still the dullest of the franchise – again, there’s no saving that putrid dialogue – it’s deeply disappointing that The Mandalorian and Grogu comes a close second from the bottom of this particular Sarlacc pit.
SO, TO SUM UP…
The Mandalorian and Grogu is an unfortunate bore that captures very little of the charm and wonder of both the series and other past Star Wars movies for a passionless and unnecessary piece of theatrical filler.
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