Back in 2025 after showing fans in attendance at Star Wars Celebration Japan what was to come from The Mandalorian and Grogu, Jon Favreau took to the live stage telling fans the titular duo’s upcoming jump to the big screen from Disney+ would be fueled by a sense of “play and adventure”. After now having seen The Mandalorian and Grogu 2.25 times, once at the world premiere, once with my wife at a small theater in my parents home town in Florida, and the first twenty or so minutes at an IMAX screening fan event in Los Angeles, tonight’s showing was undoubtedly my favorite.



Now truthfully walking out of the historic TCL Chinese theater I was a bit lower on this movie than I had expected to be. Unlike every other Star Wars film that has been released theatrically The Mandalorian and Grogu felt like a story set in the world of Star Wars rather than the stereotypical Star Wars movies I’ve been accustomed too. This story does not change the galaxy far, far away, and after my second full viewing I am fully aware and on board with how cool of a choice that is. The Mandalorian and Grogu is exactly everything Jon Favreau and the Star Wars team promoted it as, a Spielberg ian, Space Western in the same tempo and flair as the Flash Gordon epics that inspired George Lucas himself to make Star Wars in 1977. Initially if I had to identify where the film was lacking for me personally, it would’ve been the character development for Din Djarin. The Mandalorian seemingly had no character growth from starting the film to when the credits roll. This isn’t to say Mando wasn’t captivating on screen. My favorite aspect of The Mandalorian and Grogu is 100% the physical storytelling of Mando himself. That now iconic space western swagger is the X-factor that makes Mando so magnetic on screen in every appearance all thanks to the greats Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder.

*Both of whom you can meet in person this August at Rebel Scum Con year three! Get your passes now!

Sitting in the theater next to my wife during my second viewing of the movie I got to listen to a theater ooh and ahh at the action, an elderly couple behind us laugh at the anzellans, and my wife’s heart explode over grogu. Initially I would’ve told you I did not feel this movie took any big swings but now I see how incorrect I am. This movie is an Indiana Jones style adventure infused popcorn flick in the same vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark or Temple of Doom. The main characters don’t need to change much because this is just a smaller romp in the larger adventure of the characters lives. The Mandalorian’s main lesson learned is one we all learned as an audience, Grogu can and is a leading alien. One of the film’s biggest risks (pun intended) is bringing back Rotta the Hutt or as Clone Wars fans know him as Stinky, a fully CGI bodybuilder space slug that surprisingly steals the show with heart and charm thanks to the voice acting of Jeremy Allen White. Characters with actual human faces are scarce throughout the film and that’s a beautiful testament to Favreau’s love for the sandbox and action figures version of immersion he shot for.

Everyone is saying the movie is fun (and it is) but going to the movies is a blast for the community forged between 3 walls and a screen, and there’s nothing better on the big screen than Star Wars. After the world premiere while chatting in an In n out with my friend Brandon Wainerdi, writer for starwars.com and host of Talking Bay 94 (go read and listen to Brandon’s various digital galactic yappings, he’s the best of the best) had said The Mandalorian and Grogu is like the first twenty minutes of Return of The Jedi stretched into a feature film. When I was sitting in the first showing of this movie I was expecting additional baggage added to the weight of almost fifty years of the Skywalker saga but was instead reminded in my second viewing why Return of The Jedi is my favorite Star Wars movie. Both The Mandalorian and Grogu and Episode VI are all parts charming, ridiculous, and heartfelt. Much like Star Wars is an escape from the heaviness of the real world, The Mandalorian and Grogu is an escape from the weight of the Star Wars galaxy we’ve come to love by way of the 80’s adventure films that made us fall in love with the genre in the first place.

I give The Mandalorian and Grogu an 8/10. I can’t wait to one day be a dad and watch this with my kids.

Check out Will's full, spoiler review on YouTube

- Will Diamond III