The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

Review: written Jun 2026

Flawless TV series made into mediocre Cinema experience

I enjoyed this. That’s an important place to start. I love the TV series, which cleverly took the cinematic Star Wars universe and found a way to make it work in a very different medium. At its heart is a compelling contrast of characters: the austere, almost ascetic Mandalorian bounty hunter and the mischievous, wide-eyed young Grogu, who clearly delights in the odd treat.

This movie is more of what we love from the show, with a story that finds The Mandalorian now more closely aligned with the New Republic, doing jobs for Sigourney Weaver’s Colonel Ward. This sends him into an uneasy deal with Jabba the Hutt's twin cousins, who will provide information on an Imperial warlord in return for Mando rescuing Jabba's son and heir, Rotta. Of course, things are never that simple, and when it becomes clear Rotta is in no need or desire to be rescued, things get increasingly fraught.

Effects are excellent, and Ludwig Göransson returns to score the music, in his distinctive style. Pedro Pascal seems to fit this role like a glove, remarkably given how rarely we actually see it’s him under the mask, and the puppetry of baby Grogu is just wonderful… I’m so glad the cgi was dialled back, there is something wonderfully tactile about him this way. Sigourney Weaver is under-utilised, and a minor cameo from a certain famous movie director is loads of fun, but perhaps just a bit gimmicky.

So what’s the issue? Well, it really feels like they have squished an 8 episode story into a movie. Minor characters show their face and not much more, and the movie seems itself to have an episodic structure. We go from build-up to one set-piece or reveal, then the pace is dialled back as we start building towards the next, in a different venue... and so on till the end. The joy of The Mandalorian was that TV gave a balance of the serial adventures George Lucas loved so much, with space to allow for not just world building but character building. The little moments that don’t propel plot but build character. In movie form, it feels like the rush to join those episodes together into one fast moving plot has slightly upped the excitement, but somehow some of the heart of what makes the Mandalorian a special show is lost.

Additionally, for a Star Wars movie, the stakes seem surprisingly low. In fact, in the rush to get to the next scene, it’s easy to lose track of what the stakes actually are. And that’s not simply a consequence of the move to the big screen. Even stretched out as a fourth season of The Mandalorian, rather than a movie, this would have felt like a step down in terms of what is at stake.

Visually, each season of the series had a slightly different look based on location – this time the tone is decidedly creature-heavy. That didn’t particularly bother me, but for a big budget Star Wars movie, I missed some of the variety in visual tone. If creatures aren’t your thing – it’s worth being warned.

So look, it all hangs together – it’s self contained, which is a plus in the Star Wars universe, making it more easily accessible.. but it does feel pretty incidental. As the first Star Wars movie since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, it feels less of an event than it was hyped to be. Watch it with those expectations managed, and its still a load of fun.