TLDR: Worth seeing in theaters if you like Star Wars, Mando, Grogu, or just dumb action that knows what it is.TLDR: Worth seeing in theaters if you like Star Wars, Mando, Grogu, or just dumb action that knows what it is.

I went to go see The Mandalorian and Grogu, tonight and honestly, I went in with pretty low expectations.

At this point with Star Wars, I’m not really walking in expecting A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back. That would be setting myself up to be annoyed. I’ve kind of made peace with what Star Wars is now. It’s for a new generation, and every once in a while, there are still enough little moments that remind you why you liked this long time ago in a galaxy far, far and away in the first place.

That’s basically this movie.

It’s not great. It’s not terrible. It’s a good, fun, wholesome action movie with Mando and Grogu doing Mando and Grogu stuff.

Lite spoilers aheadLite spoilers ahead

The GoodThe Good

The first thing I’ll say is this is actually an action movie but it seems like it was marketed as something else.

Not a Star Wars movie with a few action scenes sprinkled in.

There are a lot of blasters, chases, creatures, fights, ships, callbacks, and all the usual Star Wars stuff you like.

And for the most part, it does.

Mando kills it in several ways. Grogu is still Grogu. If you already like those characters, this movie has enough of them doing what they do best to make it enjoyable.

There are also a lot of moments that reminded me of old Star Wars. Not in the sense that it reaches the level of the originals, but more in the way the universe feels lived in again. You see little callbacks, familiar character types, weird creatures, and scenes that make you go, “Oh, that reminds me of that other thing.” or "Isn't that the same character or planet as that?" I am sure there are a ton of easter eggs I missed.

It also has that summer popcorn movie feel. Take friends. Take kids. Go with a group. This is not really one of those movies I would want to watch alone on streaming. It works better as a theater movie because the action is doing most of the heavy lifting and hearing the crowd cheer is always fun during a Star Wars movie.

There were several scenes where I thought, “Okay, I’d watch this again just to pay closer attention to the action.”

The BadThe Bad

The biggest issue is that the movie feels episodic. Thanks streaming...lol. But seriously I did think maybe this is the new world, where something gets released early in theaters and gets released later on the same channel. I mean why should you fault that everyone does this including us at pleblab, charge a ticket for it live, record it, release it later for streaming at a cost or free, ahh im drifting ok so...

For maybe the first hour, maybe even the first hour and a half, you can almost feel where the episodes would have ended if this had stayed as a disney+ show.

It’s not like the movie literally stops, but if you watched the series, you can feel it. The scene ends, music comes one and that would have been the end of the episode.

Then the next chunk of music starts and that would have been next week and this happens at least 3 times after that i couldn't see the gap anymore or maybe I got use to it.

Once you notice it, it’s hard to unsee. I can understand why that would annoy people and why some people would say it doesn’t feel like a real movie at first. Well those people are right and it does feel a little stitched together in the beginning. This might be the reason for all the bad reviews online.

The other weird thing is the special effects.

They are not terrible, but they do feel off in places. Some of it starts to look a little cartoonish or kitschy after a while. In some ways the movie magic gets exposed a bit.

If you’re someone who watches movies and pays attention to how they are made, you can kind of see the modern production setup behind it. The big digital screens. The moving backgrounds. The digital set look. That volume output style of filmmaking they are going for, where the actors are there, but the world around moves with them and the camera, making it feel too clean or too fake.

That pulled me out of it a few times but I imagine a second time I wouldn't notice.

Part of me kept thinking they should have leaned more into practical effects, puppets, and real sets. I know that’s probably harder and more expensive in some ways, and I’m sure it’s easier now to do a lot of this with computer animation and whatever AI assisted production tools they are using now.

But still, Star Wars is at its best when it feels touched by human hands. Shout out Frank Oz.

The PlotThe Plot

The plot is kind of dumb, I don’t really know what else to say there.

I’m also not totally sure why Sigourney Weaver’s character is there. It’s not that she is bad. But the character itself felt like one of those additions where you’re like, “Okay, I guess this works...it definately doesn't work.”

If you go in expecting the plot to carry the movie, you’re probably going to be extremely disappointed. If you go in expecting a big Star Wars adventure with action, callbacks, and Grogu being Grogu, you’ll probably have a good time.

The Star Wars ProblemThe Star Wars Problem

This is not A New Hope. It’s not Empire. It’s not even trying to be that.

It’s closer to Solo.

Actually, I’d put it slightly above Solo. Solo was fine. This is also fine, but it has Mando and Grogu, and those characters already have a lot more emotional weight with people.

So if I had to rank it, I’d say it sits somewhere just above Solo just a solid Star Wars action movie.

The thing with Star Wars now is that people keep expecting it to make them feel the way it made them feel when they were younger. That’s almost impossible now with the state of the world.

Final ThoughtsFinal Thoughts

Overall, I liked it.

It’s wholesome and fun. It has a lot of action. It has some weird special effects, a dumb plot, and it feels like a few episodes stitched together at first, but it eventually finds its rhythm towards the end.

It also reminded me a little of what happened with Superman last year. A lot of people were saying that movie was terrible, then I watched it and was surprised because it was just a good, wholesome movie.

That’s how I feel about The Mandalorian and Grogu.

I’m not saying Disney is amazing or that Star Wars is back or anything like that. I’m just saying this was a good time at the movies.

If you love Star Wars, you’ll probably enjoy it.

If you like Mando and Grogu, you’ll definitely enjoy it.

If you want Empire Strikes Back, you’re going to be disappointed.

But if you want a fun popcorn action movie with some old Star Wars feeling here and there, this is worth seeing in theaters.