The Mandalorian and Grogu movie review: Rip-roaring, contained adventure delivers thrills and cuteness

The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first big screen Star Wars release since before the pandemic and that extended gap has lent it extra significance.

The expectations are enormous, because it’s not just that it’s been so long in between films, but because it’s the only one to have survived the famously tumultuous development process that’s plagued Lucasfilm’s recent run.

But The Mandalorian and Grogu should be judged on what it actually should be, which is not some symbol of Star Wars’ continued relevance in cinemas, but whether it delivers big action thrills and persuasive emotional beats.

On both counts, it does.

This is an adventure movie with lots of fast-moving set-pieces, and you’ll want to go along for this rip-roaring ride because at the heart of it is two characters and their gorgeous relationship.

You can’t not love Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu aka Baby Yoda, their whole thing is just too gorgeous. That cooing involuntarily escaping from your mouth every time he’s on screen, don’t fight it, it’s part of the experience. He. Is. Adorable.

OK, OK, obviously there are people who cannot resist a cute anthropomorphic sidekick (guilty!), there’s something primal that it evokes, those big eyes, the teeny weeny hands, it’s almost too much.

But none of it would work if the Star Wars folk hadn’t made a convincing case for the bond that exists between these two characters. Even if there hadn’t been a seven-year history during which you have been investing in Mando and Grogu, if this was your first time in their company, you still feel the depth of that pseudo father-and-son relationship.

There’s a whole stretch of this film in which Grogu gets to reciprocate the care Mando has given him, and you might cry.

It’s rare for a TV series to jump to the big screen, so the risk is always, “is this just another episode of The Mandalorian?”.

Director Jon Favreau, along with his co-writers Dave Filoni (now the co-chief executive of Lucasfilm) and Noah Kloor has managed to scale up the action with a multi-part story that stays true to the spirit of the series but now with more battles.

Mando and Grogu accepts a job from Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver) of the New Republic. He has to rescue Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White), son of Jabba, and bring him back to his aunt and uncle who in turn will give the New Republic information about an elusive Imperial warlord.

The mission takes them to a Blade Runner-esque planet where fighters battle Gladiatorial style to the death, and the Hutts’ swampy homeworld of Nal Hutta. There are some very fearsome new foes with one truly terrifying creature design that might be too much for younger kids.

The movie whips from one admittedly too much CGI sequence to the next with near-wild abandon – it really is, never boring – but it’s always underpinned by Mando and Grogu’s devotion to each other.

The great thing about this little corner of the Star Wars universe is that while there are bigger stakes in terms of the New Republic versus the Empire, the most important one is personal.

It’s contained and it doesn’t waste too much energy on lore (but there are some fun easter eggs, including cameos from directors who worked on the streaming series), focused instead on how each beat is going to affect these two characters.

That may not be enough for the Star Wars fan who love nothing more than layers and layers of overly complicated mythology.

But for the cinemagoer who wants to have some fun, wait for the moment Pascal takes off the helmet (it happens), gasp when there’s onscreen peril, and then walk out without a gazillion questions about midichlorians or bloodlines (such a boring fixation), then this more than satisfies.

So, it may be dressed up, sometimes, in a neo-Western frame or as an old-fashioned quest, but The Mandalorian and Grogu is at its core about love.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Mandalorian and Grogu is in cinemas on May 21