The Media Man Reviews: The Mandalorian and Grogu

And here we are folks, probably one of the most unusual pieces of media I'll be talking about this year.

For the first time since The Rise of Skywalker, we now have another Star Wars movie releasing in cinemas...but it's not a brand new saga or anything. Nope, it's another spin-off movie in a similar vein to Rouge One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story. And it's a spin-off starring everyone's favourite badass-and-child duo to date: Din Djarin and Grogu. When it comes to this movie, I can only ask "Why is this a new Star Wars movie instead of just being a new season of The Mandalorian?" I get it, The Mandalorian was a huge hit and is easily one of the most popular things to come out of Disney+ and the Disney era of Star Wars as I'm writing this post, but did that really warrant a movie being made? And it seems not a lot of people are enthusiastic about it, or at least aren't willing to pay to see it in cinemas since the movie has now broken the record for the lowest opening for a Star Wars movie since Solo released and people on the internet are going around loudly declaring:

I'm not surprised it isn't raking in the dough right now since this was a movie no one was really asking for and most Star Wars fans are probably content to just wait for it to come to Disney+ rather than see it on the big screen. I myself wasn't even that bothered about seeing it, but my brother wanted to see it and he prefers going to the cinema when someone's with him, so I decided to tag along. At least I get something to review for the blog too.

So was this movie the way for Star Wars to get back on top? Or should Din Djarin hunt this movie down and claim the bounty on its head? Let's find out...

Section 1: The Story

It's the story of our titular duo, Din Djarin (aka The Mandalorian) and his infant partner Grogu, as they travel around the galaxy doing jobs for people and taking down bad guys as they go. This next job is an especially big one because Din has to take a job for the New Republic in order to get information from the Hutt Twins, who in turn want their nephew Rotta the Hutt rescued from whatever trouble he's ended up in. But as is always the case with Din and his missions, the task is anything BUT easy...

Reading that synopsis, I bet you're all asking the same question: Is that it? Is that seriously all the could come up with for a story for this film? Well...yeah. It's a movie starring The Mandalorian and Grogu, what else were you expecting? =P However, it does highlight the biggest problem that I, and I'm sure many others have with this film: the plot is NOT fit for a movie. This is a story that belongs in a season of The Mandalorian itself, not an actual Star Wars movie. And no, the fact it's a spin-off doesn't excuse it from that. Just because it's a spin-off movie, doesn't mean the plot has to be so flimsy. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is proof of that. As is, this film falls into the same category as Solo: A Star Wars Story in how it has no business being a theatrically released movie and would've been better suited as a streaming exclusive title. Even Solo itself feels more like an actual movie by comparison! Some people even speculated that this film was intended to be a fourth season of The Mandalorian and it got condensed into a movie for...reasons. But if TVTropes is to be believed, Dave and Jon have confirmed that no, this isn't the case and it WAS meant to be a movie from the start. And yet it still feels like this was intended to be another season of the show because the plot would fit right at home there.

As a movie starring The Mandalorian and Grogu themselves, the movie has another big issue and it's probably the reason why it's struggling at the box office right now: it's completely inaccessible to newcomers. This is one of those annoying films from a franchise in where you have to be fully invested in every aspect of it, otherwise you'll be totally lost. With this movie, unless you've seen all three seasons of The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars pilot movie and the entirety of Star Wars: Rebels, this film will have you feeling utterly lost and having no idea who any of these characters are. The film makes no attempt to give you any context or explanation behind them, which doesn't help. I'm only able to follow the movie as well as I can BECAUSE I'm such a Star Wars nut and have invested my time into so much of the franchise. I just feel sorry for any outsider trying to watch this, because they're not in for an easy time. This is a film in where only the truly dedicated fans will be able to get into it.

And then there's the pacing of the film. Far too much of the movie is just Din flying around looking for his targets and kicking all kinds of ass. The first and last acts of the movie are nearly non-stop action while the second act kinda grinds to a halt just so we can focus on Grogu taking care of Din after he's passed out from a poisonous dragonsnake bite. It's so weird how so much of the movie is action packed and then suddenly the plot stops dead for about 20 or so minutes as if the movie ran out of energy and had to stop to take a nap. Though it is funny I say that considering one of the characters in the film is a baby. XD As is, the pacing doesn't do the film much favours and doesn't allow for many opportunities for character development or to slow down and let the story breathe for a second, which makes this movie pretty light on story as a result, which is a shame because Star Wars movies have always had pretty in-depth stories that have more to them below the surface. Even to this day, all three trilogies have plenty to discuss and peel away the layers to see what more there is to them. This on the other hand? Very standard, run-of-the-mill action heist flick with little else to it, and that's not what we expect from Star Wars. This should've been a direct-to-streaming movie, because this was not fit for a theatrically released film.

But if we take away the context of it being a Star Wars movie released in cinemas and look at the movie as a standalone spin-off film starring Din and Grogu, how is it in that regard? Honestly...pretty enjoyable. When you hear a title like "The Mandalorian and Grogu", you expect it to just be about Din and Grogu going on adventures together, and the movie delivers what it promises. It gives us what we enjoyed about The Mandalorian while also showing how these two have grown since the series. It also gives us plenty of action scenes as mentioned earlier and they're easily the highlights of the film. Din and Grogu get so many chances to kick major ass and take down enemies and it all looks really cool thanks to the slick choreography and effects.

And while I criticized the pacing earlier, I did actually find those 20 minutes of the plot grinding to a halt to focus on Grogu looking after Din to be the best part of the movie. Not only did we finally get a break from the constant action with a mostly quiet few minutes with very little dialogue to be heard, but the scene was so touching with how Grogu remained so devoted to his surrogate father figure and also gets to show how much smarter and more capable he's become over time. They even make it funny as well with one particularly humorous moment where Grogu makes this igloo shaped tunnel to hide Din in...and it's a little too short so his legs are sticking out, thus Grogu needs to hide them with leaves. That was amusing. XD As is, that portion of the movie was really sweet and brings back one of the best things about The Mandalorian for me and many others: how masterfully it handles the quiet scenes when the action is over for now.

I criticized the film for being inaccessible to newcomers, but I can praise it for having great fan service for the fans to enjoy. There's a lot of little Easter Eggs throughout the movie that shows how this is a film by people who genuinely love Star Wars and are truly invested in the franchise and returning characters like Rotta the Hutt, Zeb and Embo get their time to shine, especially Rotta. His return was very unexpected and he surprisingly ended up being the most interesting character in the movie. Yes, I'm being serious. XD We'll get to why I think that that later in the next section.

As is, that's all I've really got about the story. It's just a very safe, very standard sci-fi action flick that's only interesting to watch at all because of the Star Wars brand attached to it. As a Star Wars movie, it's underwhelming and very average. As a movie starring Din and Grogu, it's a fun action flick that gives us what you'd expect and sometimes, that's all you need from a movie. At least this isn't a Star Wars movie that actively butchers previous films, tarnishes past continuity and makes idiotic writing decisions that makes the viewing experience painful (looking at you sequel trilogy, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka!). It's just an inoffensive spin-off movie that can be enjoyed as its own thing...

Section 2: The Characters

The characters are always the most interesting parts of Star Wars, so let's see what this movie has to offer.

We have to start with our titular duo, Din Djarin (played by Pedro Pascal) and Grogu. Din is his usual badass, quiet, stoic self that we know and love from the series...and that's it. That's literally all there is to say about his character. He doesn't undergo any new growth or development, we don't learn anything new about him and nothing changes about him by the time the film is over. He begins and ends in the same place he starts out in with this film. Normally this would be a problem, but in this case I can let it slide because Din being a badass is what we loved about his character in the first place. If you love seeing Din clobber and kill bad guys, then you'll be satisfied with this film because he gets to do plenty of that. It's just when you're writing a story for a movie, your characters should have more to them than that.

Grogu by comparison definitely feels like he got the lion's share of the story here. He helps Din out here and there but otherwise is left to the side while Din does most of the work. But after Din is incapacitated by a dragonsnake bite, Grogu gets his time to shine as he cares for Din by keeping him hidden from enemies on the hunt for him, gets him water and keeps himself hidden from danger while finding food for himself. It was genuinely sweet and also impressive to watch the little infant show his resourcefulness and how he's growing more capable the longer he spends with his Mandalorian caretaker. That and he's still insanely adorable in just about every scene he's in, so that helps.

And now we get the most surprising character of the movie, and arguably the tritagonist of the feature, Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy Allen White). His appearance in the movie completely floored me because he was the LAST character I expected to see again. I always assumed his appearance in The Clone Wars pilot movie would be his only appearance and we'd be left to assume Rotta died before the events of the original trilogy, but no, he shows up here alive and well. And as I said earlier, he's the most interesting character in the movie. I didn't expect them to go the route they did with him, but I like it. It's refreshing to see a Hutt who isn't a bad guy for a change and him wanting to be his own man free from under his father's shadow is compelling stuff that's very relatable. It was also cute seeing him and Grogu make friends with each other as well. I do think making him look muscular was a bit silly though. I'm sorry, but I just can't take a Hutt beefcake seriously. XD

But those three characters are the ones that matter most to the story or are the most worth noting. The rest are just supporting characters who haven't got much I can talk about. The Hutt Twins are still boring and uninteresting villains like they were in The Book of Boba Fett, Zeb Orrelios (voiced by Steve Blum) is a New Republic fighter who backs up Din from time to time, Colonel Ward (played by Sigourney Weaver) is such a nothing character that the writers didn't bother to even give her a personality, Embo (voiced by Dave Filoni himself) is another bounty hunter that gives Din a hard time and Janu Coin (played by Jonny Coyne) is another boring villain. It's pretty staggering what little the cast give me to work with here.

The titular duo are the reason we came to see this movie, and they're thankfully as fun to watch as they were before and Rotta ended up being a surprisingly compelling character, which really took me by surprise. Too bad there's nothing else really to say about the characters outside of the main three...

Section 3: The Cinematography

Star Wars always boasts impressive visuals, so it's no surprise this movie looks good just like the others. But this is a lower budget spin-off movie, so it doesn't look the best compared to other Star Wars movies, but still otherwise looks incredible.

One thing I always admire about the Disney era of Star Wars is how detailed their CGI models are and the amount of work that's gone into bringing them to life. The vehicles and spaceships are the primary example of that. It's amazing how they look so incredibly detailed, huge and powerful to give these things real presence and like you could be riding or flying in them right now. That said, it is still easy to tell when they're CGI or when they're props. The beginning scene with Din chasing after an Empire supporter amongst a trio of AT-ATs on a snowy cliff for example, the AT-ATs are clearly CGI despite the amount of work put into them to make them look convincing. This isn't like The Empire Strikes Back where they were real props and were cleverly integrated into the visuals so they looked bigger than they were. I imagine if this movie had a bigger budget or if Disney knew how to use their own resources better, then the CGI would've looked more convincing.

As for the characters, many of them are brought to life by people in costumes or CGI. The costume designers did a great job on making everyone look as if they live in the world of Star Wars by staying true to the kind of outfits and uniforms we've seen throughout the franchise. Of course the standout costume is Din Djarin's trademark Mandalorian armour. Pedro Pascal just looks effortlessly cool swaggering about on set in that armour and kicking all kinds of ass with close combat skills or his multitude of weapons. Then again, he does have a stunt double to do some of the fighting as well, but since we rarely see Din unmasked, who knows which scenes are Pedro and which scenes are his stunt double... The CGI characters do leave a little to be desired though. And of course, Grogu is here again and still portrayed as an animatronic puppet like in the show. On the one hand, it's great to see Grogu portrayed by a practical effect, but on the other hand it ruins the illusion slightly with how robotic his movements are a lot of the time. I do applaud the filmmakers for trying, but they ultimately can't change the fact Grogu is clearly a robot and maybe some CGI would've helped make him more believable. I do love how surprisingly expressive the robot is able to be at times though. You have characters like Zeb, the Hutts and Embo where they clearly look CGI and thus they stand out a bit awkwardly as a result. While Embo I feel transitioned from animation to live-action pretty convincingly, Zeb just doesn't look right to me. I don't know what it is, but his design just doesn't work as well in realistic CGI as it does in animation in my eyes. I guess the best way to put it is this is a character that only works as a cartoon character, at least in my opinion. And as I said earlier, I just can't take a muscular Hutt seriously. Sorry filmmakers, I know you tried your hardest, but I just can't buy such a silly idea. Now apparently, Rotta isn't the first to look this way, but I don't care. It still looks goofy to me and just makes me want to laugh whenever I see him like that. XD

And then there are the action scenes. It wouldn't be Star Wars without plenty of action, and The Mandalorian is pretty well-known for its action scenes, so a movie starring Din and Grogu has to have plenty of action too. While they could've given us a few less action scenes to help the pacing somewhat, the action we do get is pretty exciting and cool to watch. The highlights for me were the opening scene with Din and Grogu in the snowy mountains, Din and Zeb breaking into Jonu Coin's fortress, Din and Rotta vs. a bunch of creatures in the pits and the climax. All those scenes are brilliantly executed and are fun to watch, especially as they give us what we enjoy the most about The Mandalorian. I even give credit to the filmmakers that they managed to make Hutts fighting look cool. Imagining a Hutt in a fight scene sounds pretty silly on paper, but in execution they managed to make it not look so silly. That's impressive. But what's not so impressive is the scene where Din has been dumped into a pool of water and has to fight off a bunch of creatures living in there, including a giant dragonsnake. That scene was hard to make out at times because of the dark lighting and dark underwater shots and being too up close to Din a few times to properly see anything. If they handled the shots a little better and made it easier to see what's going on, it would've been a better looking action scene.

As is, the Disney era of Star Wars is pretty consistent in giving us good visuals and while these visuals may not be the most ground-breaking or as visually interesting as other Star Wars movies out there, it's still a good looking film and delivers some solid action scenes that make for a fun watch in my eyes...

Overall

The Mandalorian and Grogu is the most "it exists" movie in all of Star Wars. Even The Clone Wars pilot movie had more of a reason to exist than this did. The story is average, the characters have little to them, there's an over abundance of action and it's completely inaccessible to non-fans. But if you look at it JUST as a Mandalorian and Grogu movie, it delivers what it promises and that's all it needed to do. The action scenes are enjoyable (if a bit much), Rotta's story was surprisingly compelling, the quiet section of the movie with Grogu was wholesome and the visuals are still pretty stellar. The only recommendation I have is to just watch the movie at home if you're curious, cause it's not the kind you should go and watch in cinemas. If you're a fan of The Mandalorian and it's your absolute favourite aspect of Star Wars, this film is perfect for you. If you prefer more out of Star Wars, then this won't be a high priority. The most I can say is that it was a fine watch, but not really something I'll be in a hurry to see again soon. Star Wars shouldn't just "be fine" after all. Still, I'll take this over the worst of the Disney era any day...

And that's all I have for this review. I hope you liked it and I invite you all to share your thoughts down below. Did you like The Mandalorian and Grogu? Did you not like it? Do let me know.

Next week, I'll be writing a Vs. essay on the Transformers: War for Cybertron games. See you then media fans!

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