The biggest Star Wars release in years lands in cinemas on May 22nd — and the early critical reaction suggests it is a film that fans will enjoy far more than reviewers will. The Mandalorian and Grogu, directed by Jon Favreau and written by Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Noah Kloor, arrives with a 62% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 50 reviews. The audience is almost certainly going to show up regardless. Whether it gives the Star Wars franchise the momentum it needs is a different question entirely.
What Is The Mandalorian and Grogu Actually About?
The good news is that no prior knowledge of the television series is required. The film takes place after the fall of the Galactic Empire in Return of the Jedi, with the New Republic working to maintain peace as warlords and gangsters fill the power vacuum. Din Djarin — Pedro Pascal’s armour-clad bounty hunter, known as Mando — is enlisted by the New Republic to rescue Rotta the Hutt, voiced by Jeremy Allen White, a young slug who has been captured and forced to fight gladiator-style matches in the criminal underworld of the Outer Rim.
Grogu, the wide-eyed creature popularly known as Baby Yoda, is along for the ride — hitching a lift on Mando’s back, deploying the Force at key moments, and eating the smallest bites of blue macarons imaginable. He also gets his own hero moment, in an extended sequence where the father-and-son dynamic is meaningfully reversed.
The cast extends well beyond Pascal and the puppet. Sigourney Weaver makes her Star Wars debut as Colonel Ward, a no-nonsense pilot who issues orders to Mando. Martin Scorsese voices the harried owner of a food stand. Shirley Henderson returns to voice the Anzellans, the small bearded alien species first encountered in The Rise of Skywalker. The film’s central villain is kept under wraps until later in the story — but galactic mafiosos and rival bounty hunters with a price on Mando’s head provide plenty of early antagonism.
What Are Critics Saying?
The critical response has been mixed, with a clear split between those who found it an enjoyable family adventure and those who felt it never justified its own existence as a film rather than a television episode.
Empire awarded three out of five stars, noting the film feels like “the least consequential Mandalorian chapter yet” — thinner, they wrote, than skimmed blue milk. The Guardian also gave it three stars, calling it a “decent outing” and a “solid enough addition to the ever-expanding universe.” Polygon was warmer, arguing that while the movie “probably shouldn’t exist,” the reviewer was glad it did — describing it as “a damn good time” even if it resists easy classification as a Star Wars movie in the traditional sense.
The more critical voices were sharper. Multiple outlets independently landed on the same observation: the film feels less like a cinematic event and more like three television episodes stitched together and projected onto a larger screen. IGN called it “a truncated season of the TV show or a too-long episode.” IndieWire described it as “Star Wars at its most generic: inessential and inoffensive.” The Telegraph was the most cutting, arguing that even Baby Yoda cannot save what it called a “hopeless spin-off” with an absurd plot and clumsily staged action sequences.
The Verge put the broader franchise question bluntly: the film is not strong enough to get Star Wars back on track. With the original 1977 film turning 50 next year, some critics are asking how much longer the franchise can sustain itself on nostalgia and familiar faces before a genuinely new direction becomes necessary.
For families with children and dedicated fans of the television series, The Mandalorian and Grogu will almost certainly deliver enough warmth, action, and Grogu-based charm to justify the ticket price. For anyone hoping the franchise’s return to cinemas would signal something bolder and more ambitious — the wait continues.
The Mandalorian and Grogu opens in cinemas globally on May 22nd. No streaming release date on Disney+ has been announced yet, though the film is expected to arrive on the platform several months after its theatrical run concludes.
Stay informed. Subscribe to the JournalTodays Newsletter for the latest film reviews, cinema news, and entertainment updates delivered straight to your inbox.
