Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu info:
Director: Jon Favreau
Writer: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Noah Kloor
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, and Jeremy Allen White
Intro
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. Could it finally be here? Summer weather and summer movies? I waited all winter and spring for this moment. Every year, I feel like it gets further and further away, but it always ends up making it anyway. Is there a better way to kick off summer than with a Star Wars movie?
I have a feeling that this one is going to draw up a lot of fun memories and also lots of talking points, so let’s get the spoiler warning out of the way. If you have yet to see “The Mandalorian and Grogu” and don’t want to know anything about the story, then I would go back to my homepage. From there, you can scope out some other reviews, as well as some lists for your reading pleasure. Then come back here to finish what you started… this is the way.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu recap
Alright, so “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is set after the events of season three of “The Mandalorian”. In case you don’t know, that takes place chronologically between the original Star Wars trilogy and the sequel trilogy. At this point, Din Djarin (Pascal) is working for the New Republic alongside his little apprentice Grogu. They get their orders from Col. Ward (Weaver) and try to go after targets that are trying to rebuild the Galactic Empire.
Right out of the gate, there is action as Mando is trying to track down Commander Barro (Hemky Madera). He proves to be very skilled at running away, but in the end, he gets taken down. When he gets assigned his next job, that sets the course for the whole film moving forward. It leads them to visit the Hutts, relatives of the late Jabba the Hutt. They tell him they want their nephew Rotta the Hutt (White) rescued and brought to them.
Mando agrees, and that takes them to an arena where they see Rotta fighting to the death. But, he doesn’t want to be rescued. Not only is he being treated fairly, but he is about to win his freedom. When the Mandalorian proves to him what is going on, they both get thrown in the arena to fight a plethora of monsters. Narrowly escaping, they eventually get Rotta to come with them. To avoid being taken to his family, he gives them the location of Lord Janu (Jonny Coyne), the guy he was hired to bring in anyway.
After he lets Rotta go, Mando himself is tracked down by a bounty hunter and taken to the Hutts. They are angry that he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain. They have Rotta held prisoner and push the Mandalorian into a pit, and most likely to his death. Of course, his little apprentice shows up to help, and once again, they narrowly escape. As Mando is healing up from that fight, we get a large section of the movie that is solely about Grogu and his quest for food and shelter to help his master.
When he finally heals up, they make an attack run on the Hutts and are accompanied by Col. Ward and her squadron as they fly in at the last moment. In the end, the Hutts are killed, Mando and Grogu are safe, and we are now open for them to have even more adventures.
My thoughts on Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
So, the common theme among most critics about this movie was that it felt like watching several episodes of “The Mandalorian” instead of a movie. But I think that was just because they are so used to seeing these characters on a show that they can’t get it out of their head. Personally, I can see how you could make that division in your head based on the different aspects of the film, but not enough to ruin my movie-watching experience. It was in good hands with Director Favreau.
All in all, it’s a Star Wars movie at heart, and I will take those most times over a lot of the other stuff that has been coming out over the last several months. Not only is it a Star Wars movie, but it’s a Star Wars movie filled with characters we know and love. Just ask the lady who was sitting behind me in the movie theater… she REALLY loved Grogu! We had to hear it every time he was on the screen.
Besides the familiar characters, we also get some really amazing-looking scenes, like when that AT-AT walker falls off the side of the mountain and the forest area where the Hutt twins are located. That whole area reminded me somewhat of Endor from “Return of the Jedi”. Any sci-fi or space movie is going to rely heavily on computer graphics, so it’s nice when one has a big budget behind it to make it look nice.
I think the biggest downside of “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was the story. The plot is what made it feel more like a show. Some of the stuff they did in the movie wasn’t any different than stuff they did for three seasons on Disney+. It wasn’t bad necessarily, just didn’t give it a movie vibe. Like I was saying a few paragraphs earlier, it doesn’t ruin anything, but also doesn’t give big movie vibes.
Overall, it was fun, and any Star Wars fan is going to enjoy the hell out of this. Star Wars is always fun on the big screen, and this one did not disappoint. Even though I felt like some parts were overly focused on Grogu, I also know why they did that. People love Baby Yoda, so they kept spoon-feeding him to us throughout its lofty runtime. I am a Star Wars fan, so I was happy with this and also happy to give it a 7 out of 10.
Watch or wait?
Like most weeks, I feel like if you’ve read this far, you already know what I’m going to say. If you are a Star Wars fan, there is absolutely no way you’re not going to go see this in theaters. In fact, something tells me that you already have. If you’re not a fan, then you probably won’t watch it now or later. So go have some fun with it now!
Ok, that’s it for me this week. That means it’s your turn now. Have you seen “The Mandalorian and Grogu” yet? If so, what are your thoughts? I’m curious how many non-Star Wars fans will flock to see this based on Grogu alone? Do you think it resembles the Disney+ show, or does it stand on its own? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and I will be back next week with another mindless movie review of some sort.
