![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-2026-05-25T151225.139.webp?resize=691%2C1024&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d is coming at an interesting time in the history of \u201cStar Wars.\u201d It is a test to see if the franchise\u2019s recent success on the small screen can translate to blockbuster status on the big screen. I have not seen \u201cThe Mandalorian\u201d streaming series on Disney+, though I know of its massive success. I could even imagine a world where a \u201cMandalorian\u201d movie makes enough money to have a legitimate place alongside classic installments like \u201cA New Hope\u201d and \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back.\u201d That world just isn\u2019t this one, not with this movie that nearly put me to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The movie follows Din \u201cThe Mandalorian\u201d Djarin (voiced and played in \u201cface scenes\u201d by Pedro Pascal), a helmeted human bounty hunter who resembles, but is not related to, beloved franchise character Boba Fett. His young apprentice is Grogu, a non-speaking alien who resembles, but is not related to, beloved franchise character Yoda. I\u2019m sure the origin of the team-up is explained in the series, but for now, all I need to know is that they are a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The opening moments of the movie follow The Mandalorian and Grogu as they take out a leftover Empire loyalist (Hemky Madera) running a protection racket. The sequence is filled with action, comedy, and visual spectacle on a level that the rest of the film lacks. I\u2019ve heard some critics saying that this film could have been a few episodes of television, I\u2019m saying that everything after this sequence could have been cut and the whole thing could have been a short that plays in front of another Disney feature. I know it\u2019s wishful thinking, but it could have added some much-needed incentive to see a fledgling effort like\u2026 \u201cWish,\u201d come to think of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rest of the story follows the team as they\u2019re sent on a mission by their employer (Sigourney Weaver) to capture another Empire henchman who has thus far escaped justice. This person\u2019s identity is known only to the deplorable Hutt family, and Jabba\u2019s twin siblings won\u2019t give up the information for free. Mando and Grogu first have to rescue Jabba\u2019s son Rotta (Jeremy Allen White) and return him to his aunt and uncle. It turns out that Rotta has carved out a nice little life for himself on another planet as a gladiator of sorts fighting for unscrupulous promoter Janu Coin (Jonny\u2026 Coyne is the actor\u2019s name), and he doesn\u2019t want to leave. The \u201crescue\u201d mission is going to have to be more of a \u201ccapture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first I liked the adorable, Force-enabled Grogu so much that I wondered if the movie even needed The Mandalorian. Around the two-thirds mark, I got my answer when Mando was incapacitated for a stretch. The answer is that yes, the movie very much needs The Mandalorian, because with just Grogu, this movie fell apart. Bless the writers for trying to give him a solo arc and the puppeteers for trying to make him sympathetic, but he just does not have a mode other than \u201ccute.\u201d He works in small, scene-stealing doses, but anything more than that is a mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d is every action movie you\u2019ve ever seen about a shady hero dealing with shadier secondary players, including, but not limited to, other \u201cStar Wars\u201d movies. Except it doesn\u2019t quite have the ambition of other \u201cStar Wars\u201d movies. There\u2019s too much blandness to the settings and periphery characters. I can see where Disney thinks this property is \u201ctoo big\u201d for television, but I can\u2019t say this movie is theater-worthy, at least on the level that a \u201cStar Wars\u201d movie should be. It\u2019s stuck awkwardly between the two tiers of entertainment hierarchy. I\u2019m sure there will be another movie, and I encourage the creative team to step up their efforts (it won\u2019t take much, just a few extra flourishes) so that film can unmistakably belong in theaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grade: C<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d is rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action. Its running time is 132 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Bob Garver \u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d is coming at an interesting time in the history of \u201cStar Wars.\u201d It is a test to see if the franchise\u2019s recent… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcL2ltYWdlLTIwMjYtMDUtMjVUMTUxMjI1LjEzOS53ZWJwP2ZpdD02OTElMkMxMDI0JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiTW92aWUgUmV2aWV3ICYjODIxMTsgVGhlIE1hbmRhbG9yaWFuIGFuZCBHcm9ndSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.oszc6ZxeabeoJgVkGuvj6vNFOF0ZSPn_46ko1Dv1QjwMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA1XC9pbWFnZS0yMDI2LTA1LTI1VDE1MTIyNS4xMzktNjkxeDEwMjQud2VicCIsInR4dCI6Ik1vdmllIFJldmlldyAtIFRoZSBNYW5kYWxvcmlhbiBhbmQgR3JvZ3UiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.X6SA1ULkygqzRAfS6RhjdWDBW-J8bXQytSH_AHrrgawMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[14697],"class_list":["post-67058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-movie-review-the-mandalorian-and-grogu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67060,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67058\/revisions\/67060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}