Review by C.J. Bunce
It was going to be hard for Jon Favreau to mess up a movie sequel to the Lucasfilm/Disney+ series The Mandalorian. Still in theaters and the perfect summer blockbuster, The Mandalorian and Grogu is packed full of familiar characters, creatures, environments, costumes, props, and cross-references from across the Star Wars franchise. And although a few of the best scenes were previewed in the trailers, Favreau and Dave Filoni delivered where it counts: a worthy follow-up to the likes of the original trilogy on equal footing with the two “Star Wars Story” movies.
Most importantly it has ample Grogu aka Baby Yoda plus Pedro Pascal’s Mandalorian chalking up more bounty and Sigourney Weaver chalking up one more science fiction franchise for her portfolio. But the best new character may come as a surprise.
We’ve already seen over-sized animated series Star Wars: Rebels character Zeb Orrelios make an appearance in The Mandalorian TV series. He gets a slightly larger role here, with voice actor Steve Blum doing a great accent a la Jason Statham. But the bigger surprise is the live-action introduction of Jabba the Hutt’s now adult son Rotta, voiced by Jeremy Allen White. Who would think a giant slug could have that much personality and a layered, fleshed-out, sympathetic backstory? Both Zeb and Rotta are CG creations, but they are cutting edge CG creations that work. Add to them the return of The Twins–Jabba’s siblings and heirs who step into the role of the big crime thugs of this picture–and Star Wars fans get their first looks at these giant slugs actually moving around and more.
Does the movie have problems? Actually it has a really big one, the same problem the original Star Wars movie from 1977 had. There’s no reason a Star Wars movie, or any movie with a pantheon of big roles for that matter, only has one lead female character. Sigourney Weaver makes her Star Wars debut as Colonel Ward, a very low-key, understated performance for Weaver. It’s very much in the same mold as the late Carl Weathers’ Greef Karga in the TV series. She has notably less screen time than Princess Leia in Star Wars, and like Mon Mothma, you could say Rotta’s aunt Hutt is also a named female character, but that’s pretty much it in a movie full of dozens of aliens with supporting roles. Two mob bosses are plain old humans–not even a cheap mask or painted face with poorly designed Earth-like costumes–and either could have been a female. Or the more interesting Gatori, a member of the alien slaveholders from Tatooine in the prequel movies, could have had a female voice. It sadly illustrates that someone wasn’t thinking this time around. It’s not that hard to even out the cast make-up.
The first half of the movie is more of the same, exactly like you’d expect as a continuation of the two-season TV show. But the best is found in the second half, especially when the tables turn from the Mandalorian watching over Grogu to Grogu stepping forward to take charge where he can. A planet that intentionally resembles the swamp planet of Yoda’s Dagobah from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi finds Grogu doing many very Yoda-like things that are sure to give fans goosebumps. And there are some laughs. Martin Scorsese has more than a cameo and isn’t too distracting as Ardennian cook Hugo Durant, likely a relative of Jon Favreau’s own Rio Durant, the first of his species to appear in the franchise via Solo: A Star Wars Story. In fact Scorsese’s frenetic New York vocalizations are somehow consistent with the outlandish angsty aliens from throughout the movies.
Does the return of a new Razor Crest ship seem forced? Sure–it’s hard not to see it as needed to sell all that inventory of the toy from the TV show. But it’s also a cool ship, odd and clunky like the ship of the first Mandalorian we met way back when. Amy Sedaris’s Peli Motto should have been in this movie, especially since her mechanic squad gets some great scenes. The story also skips over the longhaul story arc of the series–the return of the Mandalorians. One of the many beasts in this movie could have been a Mythosaur, but action and excitement won out over that part of the Mando and Grogu story. And did we need another tangent bounty hunter nearly identical (especially in the darkly lit visuals) to a bounty hunter from the series?
The music isn’t as humworthy as John Williams’. But composer Ludwig Göransson has his handle on this part of Star Wars, and this time that means music that includes a world derived from the neon noir of Blade Runner. All the callbacks from the series are fun, like another appearance of Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Captain Teva.
As for alien makeups, the movie is surprisingly lacking, relying on CG characters. I can see that Favreau didn’t want to put anything on the screen that wasn’t perfect. But part of the charm of the original Star Wars was the cantina and all those masked characters. I’d have preferred more of that to so many scenes where the background was merely humans. The Andor series suffered in the same way. It’s an area where Doctor Who has dominated in the big sci-fi franchises over the past few decades, and where even the movie Star Trek Beyond performed very well.
You’re going to walk away wanting more Mando, more Grogu, more Rotta, more Weaver as Colonel Ward, and more Grogu growing into someone like Yoda, maybe on another swamp planet. Viewers are reminded The Mandalorian tales aren’t just space fantasy, they’re full-blown space Westerns–with the potential for all kinds of callbacks. Early on that takes the form of a new kind of AT-AT tearing across a mountain pass, all for anyone wanting a revisit to the ice planet Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back. We even get to see inside one. The new landspeeders have designs full of nuance, too–even better than the designs from Solo: A Star Wars Story.
It’s a high point for the 50th year since audiences first were dazzled with the rollercoaster space fantasy called Star Wars. It’s only been in theaters for a little more than a month, so make this the movie that gets you back to the theater. It’s a worthy summer blockbuster. The Mandalorian and Grogu is in theaters now.
