Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) is directed by Jon Favreau, who also wrote the film alongside Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor. It stars Pedro Pascal, Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder, Jeremy Allen White, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Blum, Jonny Coyne, Matthew Willig, Martin Scorsese, Hemky Madera, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Shirley Henderson, Cullen Douglas, and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee. This continuation of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian follows the titular character (Pascal, Wayne, Crowder) and his adorable sidekick, Grogu, after they accept a new contract to capture Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta (White), and return him to his family on the planet Nal Hutta. When they discover that Rotta’s relatives only plan on killing him upon delivery, Mando, Grogu, and a handful of allies disobey orders so they can do what’s right. 

In what’s basically a glorified voiceover gig, Pedro Pascal helps bring a certain warmth to the otherwise stoic Din Djarin, aka The Mandalorian, aka ‘Mando.’ I, for a time, had thought Pascal’s inclusion was nothing more than shameless stunt casting intended to help sell Disney’s first-ever live-action Star Wars television series. However, after three seasons and now this movie, I’ve realized that casting a recognizable actor in the role is an ingenious way to help make up for the fact that the character’s face is hidden almost all of the time. We don’t need to see his face because simply imagining it is enough, which is only possible because the audience already knows what Pascal looks like. 

Because I’d wager that Pascal rarely actually suited up as Mando, I have to give props to the character’s stunt duo, Brendan Wayne & Lateef Crowder. They consistently bring the bounty hunter to life through their committed physical performances. Despite Mando already proving himself a skilled, rough-and-tumble rogue over the course of three seasons on Disney+, it’s nice that Favreau still chooses to show us WHY he’s such a badass instead of just telling us. That being said, the overall tone of the character’s adventures has increasingly become more childish and safe as it rolls along. Mando, who started out as an irresistible, unpredictable, morally grey gun-for-hire, has slowly become a straight-laced, kind-hearted pushover whose goody-two-shoes moral code would even make Captain America and Superman blush in unison.   

In terms of flashy blockbuster thrills, the film consistently delivers the kind of creative sequences we expect from the franchise. Unfortunately, all this is mostly a frustratingly surface-level, predictable experience that does almost nothing to justify its transition to the big screen. This is, at best, similar in quality to a mid-tier episode of the show. It does nothing to advance the world or characters (I might be one of the few humans who thinks Grogu needs to grow up. The baby schtick is becoming stale.) There’s a reason infants aren’t central characters in most stories (besides the fact that you can’t really get babies to act), and although Grogu has a bit more going for him, I desperately just want to see something new.

Overall, this is a perfectly serviceable, fun Star Wars adventure featuring two of the franchise’s best modern characters. Unfortunately, if you’re looking to get much else from the experience, you might leave the theater feeling a bit empty. It looks great and easily kills two hours, but it also feels like an example of commercial filmmaking at its most soulless. I won’t say it’s just a couple of episodes of the show strung together; the story is a bit more cohesive than that. However, I do agree with the sentiment that I’d struggle to choose between watching this movie and four random episodes of the series. Reasonable fans of the franchise will have fun, but they definitely won’t be blown away. C+