Rating:
Summary: The Mandalorian and Grogu is a decent tentpole movie, with exciting action set-pieces and everyone's favourite alien baby. Very much aimed at bringing casual Star Wars fans back to the big screen, hardcore fans may want a bit more.
It's hard to believe that it's been seven years since the last Star Wars movie, but here we go again, Star Wars is back on the big screen, baby! And not just that, it features everyone's favourite alien baby too. With such big expectations, perhaps many would think that a new chapter of a Star Wars TV show that had already run 4 seasons (plus spin-offs) wasn't the best choice for such an important film aimed at casual Star Wars fans as much as the dedicated ones. But there is logic to this move.
As it's become customary for shared universe, multi-platform franchises, you always feel like you need to do a bit of homework before you head to the cinemas to watch "The Mandalorian and Grogu". Reading online, the recommended prerequisite content list includes all four seasons of "The Mandalorian" and Season 1, Chapters 5–7 of "The Book of Boba Fett". Having watched the film, this isn't actually true.
Yes, you do need to know the basic premise of The Mandalorian. And I mean basic. So The Mandalorian, also known as Din Djarin (or Mando to his friends/enemies/frenemies), is a bounty hunter, and on one of his missions, he was tasked to retrieve a baby that is of Yoda's species (which still remains unnamed). The stone-hearted bounty hunter eventually has his heart melted by the innocent "Baby Yoda", we eventually find out his name is Grogu, and the two form a strong bond. Grogu also has access to Jedi powers, something his species probably has naturally, but he is untrained and a novice at wielding them. As for the state of the universe, this is set after the fall of the Emperor, the elevation of the Rebel Alliance to the new galactic government known as The New Republic, who are battling remnants of Imperial forces scattered across the galaxy. And that's basically all you need to know before watching this movie - the rest will be explained, or is not needed to follow the rather simple storyline.
To get people to go back to Star Wars on the big screen, the studio needed something people are familar with (but no more Skywalker stuff, please), and also to do it in a way that's approachable by even non Star Wars fans. The Mandalorian and especially "Baby Yoda" is well known, and they've made this movie really, really approachable. This is the logic behind what at first appears to be madness.
The storyline is so simple that the official synopsis, for once, does a good job of explaining what the entire movie is about. The Mandalorian and Grogu now work for the New Republic to hunt down Imperial remnants, and on their mission to hunt the latest target, they come against some unexpected foes. There were plenty of "The Mandalorian" episodes that were simple, and contained like this - at most, it features a 2 or 3 episode arc that's resolved by the end of it. "The Mandalorian and Grogu" is the movie equivalent of this. So yes, this movie is aimed at the casual fan, even if on paper it probably doesn't seem like that. You really don't need to know much, and I hope I'm not spoiling it when I say it doesn't really explore anything where you'd have to look up Wookieepedia after you get home to understand. Hopefully, word of mouth will help spread this fact and convince those lacking "The Mandalorian" knowledge to give it a go.
The simple story also enjoys a simple narrative structure, an almost video game like structure (characters go to A, get information, go to B, fight, get more information, and go to C, etc...). Those worried by my previous statement of this movie being like a "2 or 3 episode arc" of the TV show should also relax. This is a big-screen movie with big action set-pieces, the scale of which you won't find on the TV show. It's also shot in IMAX (and was the version I watched in the special preview arranged by Disney/Lucasfilms), and pretty much all the action scenes are in the expanded IMAX format. I've never seen Star Wars on IMAX - I feel it should be the way all future Star Wars films should be shot/seen - it's quite spectacular, actually.
Acclaimed composer Ludwig Göransson, who also did the music for the TV series, produces a glorious soundtrack for the movie, one of the real highlights here. It is very much in the "The Mandalorian" signature style, which strays away from the "Saga" Star Wars tunes, but will have callbacks to it from time to time.
So is "The Mandalorian and Grogu" a worthy (Northern Hemisphere) "summer" movie? I would say yes. It has great action, a simple and effective story that casual fans will find easy to enjoy, and it's a great introduction to the main characters of the "Mandoverse". It's the perfect tentpole movie. But there's probably not enough here for hardcore fans hoping for continuations of one of the many story arcs on the show. It really doesn't try to expand the Mandoverse - perhaps that will come in future movies, after even casual audiences will gain some basic knowledge about the Mandoverse after watching this movie (and I dare you not to fall in love with Grogu, and many of the side characters in this film).
"Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" is in Australian cinemas on 21 May 2026. Australian streaming release date: TBA
