Title – Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

Director – Jon Favreau (Iron Man)

Cast – Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, (Voices of) Jeremy Allen White, Martin Scorsese

Plot – The tale of The Mandalorian (Pascal) and Grogu continue as the two head off into a galaxy far far away for some life and death adventures.  

“This isn’t about revenge. It’s about preventing another war”

Review by Eddie on 22/05/2026

There’s no doubt that you will watch worse films in 2026 and The Mandalorian and Grogu isn’t close to being the worst cinematic Star Wars we’ve been given (here’s looking at you The Rise of Skywalker) but there’s a distinct feeling that in a giant universe once wonderfully created by George Lucas, there’s got to be better ways for Disney to spend its Star Wars credits.

Unable to ever stop the feeling and sense that we are partaking in a Star Wars side quest, that while mildly entertaining, is never far from forgettable in all aspects, director Jon Favreau and his creative partner Dave Filoni upgrade their hit TV series into a bigger 2 hour plus package that’s sure to appease Mandalorian fans and forgiving Star Wars aficionados but in a day and age where the Star Wars brand finds itself in a very precarious position, The Mandalorian doesn’t feel like the wisest choice of big screen outings when all things are weighed up.

Unquestionably driven by Disney’s desire to mass produce more Grogu merchandise and try to lure in the younger Star Wars generation that has steadily declined since the heydays of the early original trilogy and the early 2000’s hype around the Anakin series, it’s hard to know exactly what we as viewers are supposed to feel from Favreau’s adventure other than a sense that we were distracted for a few hours from everyday life and that we can be thankful Jabba the Hut never spoke to us in plain English and had a physique that would’ve made a Pumping Iron era Schwarzenegger blush.

Following the odd but endearing duo of Pedro Pascal’s notorious bounty hunter and his little green offsider “baby Yoda”, The Mandalorian finds the two heading on a cross-universe venture to track down Jeremy Allen White’s Rotta the Hut who has been kidnapped in hopes that their successful quest could allow the rebel forces to continue to wipe out the last of the Imperial bloodline.

In many ways things in The Mandalorian just happen, there’s no easing into anything here with all the backstory and prelude there for all to see in the three seasons of the show, allowing Favreau to jump from scene to scene here, allotting precious little time to contemplate anything much that happens throughout his event picture that does feel long in the tooth at just over 2 hours in running time.

With little charm to be found in the films script, action scenes that are clearly expensive but lacking in any great deal of imagination or creativity and new characters that don’t work to any great degree, particularly in the case of White’s Rotta who feels more like a forced link back to the bygone Star Wars era and whose mere physical form is a distraction whenever he’s on screen, The Mandalorian has far too many underdone and unloved elements, ensuring this is a film hard to love, even though we desperately want to feel that Star Wars magic on the big screen once again.

Having provided millions upon millions of us, both young, old and all that’s in between with so much joy and wonder, we are right to expect more from a brand that was once synonymous with a fantastical viewing experience and that’s something that The Mandalorian doesn’t provide even if some of the discourse around it has been overblown by overzealous critics and hardcore fans that are perhaps unleashing their long-held disappointment of the series onto this venture.

I personally have no doubt that we haven’t seen the last Star Wars magic on the big screen, it’s not found here and may not be there in next year’s Ryan Gosling anchored Starfighter but it will happen one day, a moment we will all be able to enjoy after the many curious diversions and stocking fillers that have been littering the brands shelves in various forms over the past few decades.

Final Say –

There’s some minor fun to be had from The Mandalorian and Grogu but there’s also very little if anything to get overly excited about, marking this newest cinematic Star Wars outing down as an adequate distraction devoid of any real heart, soul or imagination, a sadly very modern-day Disney trend.

3 Oscar winning chefs out of 5