A not so long time ago, in a galaxy not so far, far away, the release of a new Star Wars movie would have been a major pop cultural event. It would have been the most anticipated film of the year, and showtimes on opening day would have sold out within minutes of going on sale. None of that is true of The Mandalorian and Grogu, the latest installment in the series and the first in nearly seven years. There are many reasons for this diminished interest, none of which is the movie’s fault.
Now working exclusively for the New Republic to bring Imperial warlords to justice, the Mandalorian warrior Din Djarin (voiced and played, when unmasked, by Pedro Pascal) is tasked by his superior, Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver), with tracking down the New Republic’s most wanted Imperial fugitive. Unfortunately, all she has is his name. For further intel, Mando must turn to the Twins, Hutt siblings who now control the Hutt criminal syndicates. In exchange, he will have to rescue their nephew, Jabba the Hutt’s son Rotta (voiced by The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White), who, they claim, has fallen in with a bad crowd. After some complications, Mando and Grogu (né Baby Yoda) secure Rotta. Rotta then reveals the mystery Imperial’s identity himself. Cutting out the middlemen, Din and his partner, Zeb Orrelios (voiced by Steve Blum), capture the target and take him back to the New Republic, breaking the agreement with the Twins. The Hutts don’t take kindly to this betrayal and set out to exact revenge. Then Grogu has to turn protector and save Mando from the Twins’ clutches.
In recent years, it’s become common practice for anime shows to get what are known as “omnibus” releases, where multiple episodes are cobbled together and deposited into theaters. The Mandalorian and Grogu has something of that flavor, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given its origins as the popular Disney+ series, The Mandalorian.
This approach works most of the time, but it does mean that the stakes are low; fate of the galaxy stuff, this is not. Instead of broadening into a larger story about the New Republic’s struggle against the remnants of the Empire, once the mystery target is apprehended, the Imperial angle fades from view as the movie narrows its focus to Din’s survival and Grogu’s efforts to rescue him. Not that there’s any doubt about the outcome. The heroes are never in any real jeopardy. This movie is safe, inside and out. Understandably so, considering how Disney was burned when Rian Johnson colored so far outside the lines with The Last Jedi (2017).
The Mandalorian and Grogu is very well-paced. It never drags, despite its over two-hour runtime. With Mando spending part of the movie out of commission, recovering from his injuries, fans are sure to appreciate Grogu getting to shine solo. Many of the film’s funniest moments come courtesy of the former Baby Yoda, such as when he tries to use the Force to nudge Din into the shelter he’s made out of mud and discovers, after a few clangs of Din’s helmet, that it’s too small. The movie’s weakest moments come when it hews too closely to the formula of the TV show and thus repeats some of its worst flaws, such as descending into mindless slaughterfests of droids or stormtroopers.
The movie is at its most enjoyable when it is content simply to inhabit and build upon the universe George Lucas created. We see, for example, the Hutt homeworld, Nal Hutta, in live-action for the first time. Star Wars has always excelled at imaginatively conceived aliens and creatures, and this time we get a four-armed, monkey-like alien (voiced by Martin Scorsese) that runs a food stall and a swamp-dwelling being (voiced by Stephen McKinley Henderson) who aids Grogu after he rescues Mando from the Hutts, among others. The movie is also replete with callbacks, such as an homage to the famous “Let the Wookiee win” scene from the original 1977 Star Wars movie.
Yet despite these connections, the words “Star Wars” never appear on screen. John Williams’s music is absent. There’s a moment near the end when you expect to hear the strains of “Yoda’s Theme,” but never do. For all its trappings from the galaxy far, far away, you never feel like that’s quite where you are. It’s in the same universe, yet also somehow isn’t. As this is the first film whose plot doesn’t relate in some way to the original trilogy, it may just have been inevitable that it would feel disconnected.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first Star Wars film since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker concluded the sequel trilogy on a sour note. When Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, the idea was to release one movie a year. That the company never came close to that pace is indicative of the turmoil besetting their management of the franchise. Multiple film projects reached various stages of development, some of which were announced with great fanfare, only to be quietly canceled a year or two later. These include a Boba Fett movie by Josh Trank; a trilogy by Rian Johnson; a series from the creators of Game of Thrones; and a film by Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. Late last year, it emerged that Disney CEO Robert Iger personally rejected a movie developed over two years by Adam Driver and Steven Soderbergh called The Hunt for Ben Solo, which would pick up that character’s story after The Rise of Skywalker. Even the movies that did make it to theaters sometimes barely managed to escape. 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story was mired in production difficulties to the point that the original writers and directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (the duo behind this year’s massive, crowd-pleasing hit Project Hail Mary), were replaced by Ron Howard, who reshot much of the movie.
That The Mandalorian and Grogu exists at all, then, is a minor triumph. And Disney needs a triumph when it comes to Star Wars. Interest in the franchise has been ebbing. Nielsen data disclosed last month underscore the problem: none of the Disney sequels made the top 10 most-streamed titles on Disney+, while all six Lucas movies did.
Fans have been voting with their eyes — and their wallets. The Mandalorian and Grogu had the lowest box-office opening of any Star Wars film to date, lower even than Solo, which didn’t clear $400 million worldwide. Audience scores are positive, so maybe the mediocre initial ticket sales won’t prove fatal. The real test will be next May, when Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Shawn Levy, arrives in theaters for the franchise’s golden anniversary.
As for The Mandalorian and Grogu, at worst, it’s the second-best Star Wars film made under the Disney aegis, and easily tops all of the sequels. But will that be good enough? Star Wars, after a longer delay than anyone could have foreseen, has finally made it back to the big screen. Whether it stays there, it’s still too soon to say. Always in motion is the future.
Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) started down the Star Wars path in 1977. Forever has it dominated his destiny. Consume him, it did.
