By Dan Skip Allen

Disney launched their streaming service with a bang in 2019 with a new Star Wars series called “The Mandalorian “ it introduced a new character, Din Djarin, and his little buddy, Grigu, to audiences worldwide. The show was a sensation, and everybody wanted more. Until season 3 came out, and the character also showed up in “The Boba Fett” series. Star Wars fans were getting a little tired of this character created by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, the man behind the “Clone Wars” anticipated series and a few others. Season 4 of “The Mandalorian “ was put on hold in the lue of a big blockbuster film instead. “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is that film , of course, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a movie about these characters from these creators. I think fans of the show will love it. And if you’re a true die in the wool Star Wars fan, I don’t see why you wouldn’t love it either. 

“The Mandalorian and Grogu” picks up where Season 3 of “The Mandalorian “ left off. Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) finds himself working for the New Republic collecting bounties on Imperial heads. Mando, as he’s called by many, is  attacking a base on a planet that looks wintery. He takes out some ATAT’s a few imperial walkers on cliffs and kills his fair share of storm troopers in the process trying to get to his man. In antigen escape, he eventually gets his man by using the laser gun of an imperial walker to shoot his man down. That’s the vibe of this movie from beginning to end. It’s all about action scenes and escaping death from one bad situation after another. 

The main story revolves around rescuing a Hutt named Ratta (Jeremy Allen White) from his capture, an Imperial officer hiding out on a planet as a gangster running gladiator fight for the people’s enjoyment and gambling. This causes an issue with a brother-sister duo of Hutts on Nal Hutta who paid for the capture of their nephew. Things don’t go exactly as planned, though, as The Mandalorian takes things into his own hands and ends up in a gladiator fight with a bunch of monsters to help save Ratta. As I said, it’s one action scene after another, but they are all very entertaining to watch. The creativity of the storytelling is pretty amazing in these scenes.

Favreau called in some favors and got two big names to appear in this film besides to other supporting cast members Steve Blum as a live action version of Zeb from Rebels, the animated series, Jonny Coyne, as an empirical officer, Hanky Madera, as another imperial officer, and Lateef Chrowder, as a hermit sitting on a dock in a swamp on Nal Hutta. Those are Sigourney Weaver as Colonel Ward, the head of the New Republic base, and Martin Scorsese as an Ardenian Fry Cook. Both Weaver and Scorsese have very good banter with Pascal’s Din Djarin. I’ve come to like this kind of humor in the series. The writing, by Favreau, Filoni, and Noah Kloor, continues that trend in this film. The writing is a strong point of this movie.

Another strong point is the cinematography and cgi. Favreau was going for a specific look in this movie, and that is a gritty looking 70s drama. One scene looked straight out of “Blade Runner” and another out of “The French Connection”. It shows that Favreau is a fan of these kinds of films and the addition of Scorsese in the cast reminded me of “Taxi Driver” as well from the well lit city streets on one of the planets “The Mandalorian“ went to. David Klein gave the movie a look I was completely enamored by. Even the dogfighting scenes and Nal Hutta scenes all looked great with a grainy feeling like a 70s film. 

The CGI was good as well, specifically on the two Hutt siblings, a giant snake monster and two giant androids who were protecting the Hutts palace on Nal Hutta and a bunch of other monsters in the gladiator fights scene. With this not being completely involving “The Volume” a set with a computerized backdrop, Favreau was able to go on location to places and use green screens to help create monsters or robots or aliens to fill out various sequences. Thus gave the movie a better of all feel to it. The CGI melded with the cinematography very nicely. This gave the entire movie the scope and grandeur it needed to be considered a blockbuster, in which it is. This is truly a summer blockbuster in every sense of the word.

With the progression of “The Mandalorian “ from streaming series to big blockbuster movies, you have figured there will be a progression in the characters as well. Specifically, Grogu. He hasn’t been explored as much on the series as much as fans would have seen him be. In this film, this character gets explored much more. From his powers to his personality and ingenuity. He finds ways to do things that help progress the story and help Din Djarin get out of various situations. There is one scene in particular that I loved involving Grugu. This is what fans of the show and character have been waiting for regarding this little guy. The puppetry and stop motion animation in this sequence was fantastic. It reminded me of the Yoda scenes in “The Empire Strikes Back”. I love how Favreau has given this character a lot to do in the movie. 

A lot of people are going to complain and say, “Why would I want to watch this movie when I could just see these characters on streaming?” Also, this is just a two hour and fifteen minute episode of the series. I say it’s more like four 35-minute episodes of the show put together as a film. They fit seamlessly together to make a very good two hour and fifteen minute film. All the various segments have things that make them fun and interesting.  This is what I’ve come to expect from “The Mandalorian “. And as far as seeing these characters that have become synonymous with streaming on the big screen I’d argue that they put season Finale episodes like “Stranger Things”, “The Boys” or “Picard” that put this show on the screen. It’s similar to making a movie about streaming characters. I don’t have a problem with this at all.

“The Mandalorian and Grogu” is a fun blockbuster filmmaking that fans of the streaming show and Star Wars fans alike will surely enjoy. It’s not trying to break the mold of Star Wars, and it’s not breaking any new ground, but it’s exactly what I thought a movie about these characters would be. The relationship between the two main characters has progressed, and specifically, the Grogu character has really grown, no pun intended,  in stature. His section in the movie was amazing. The CGI and cinematography were both amazing. The cast was also very enjoyable, including but not limited to Scorsese and Weaver. The score once again by Ludwig Goransson was amazing. This film was what I expected from one about these characters and in this world. I quite enjoyed my time once again in a galaxy far, far away. Thus is the way. 

4 1/2