The embargo is up, the first reviews are in, and as is often the case, the bag is decidedly mixed, with major outlets across the spectrum delivering thoughts that in equal measure praise and criticise The Mandalorian and Grogu. As always, it’s up to you to make up your own mind, but here’s a smattering of critical opinion ranging from the good, to the bad to the downright ugly from some of the bigger entertainment outlets.
First, the good.
The Wrap: “It’s a deft and enjoyable blockbuster, easily the most purely entertaining Star Wars movie since the 1980s, even though it’s hardly the most meaningful or ambitious … The Mandalorian and Grogu is an absorbing, classy summer blockbuster. Entertaining from start to finish, with so much heart that it never feels shallow. It’s straightforward, certainly, but never shallow. We can quibble about the film’s subpar villains — one of them is literally just ‘Telly Savalas in Space’ — but this is a film about appealing heroes, not charismatic bad guys. Screw the bad guys. Evil isn’t cool. A doting father and his wacky puppet son are cool. And while their TV series is hit-and-miss, their movie is a bountiful success.”
The bad…
Gizmodo: “It’s big, beautiful, has a few laughs, great action, and a story with a beginning, middle, and end. By all measures, with those stakes, it’s a success … [but] The Mandalorian and Grogu is a throwaway adventure in the lives of these characters. A blip. A side quest. It doesn’t add anything of true significance to Star Wars as a whole or, more importantly, to the lore of the Mandalorian and Grogu as characters The Mandalorian and Grogu is ultimately nothing more than a longer, better-looking, mid-tier episode of the show. Some will find it passable, but Star Wars deserves better. This is not the way.”
…and the ugly.
The Times UK: “A farcically weak story wheezing from its TV streaming existence into the multiplex and drooling out bits of fanboy lore along the way. There are feeble nods to The Empire Strikes Back here and palsied winks to Return of the Jedi there, as if callbacks from the Iron Man director Jon Favreau had some magical revitalising power and were not symptomatic of a film and a franchise that exists in a grim creative void … Grogu is a dud non-character invented only for marketing memes and laptop stickers. He clearly possesses enough ‘force’ energy to solve all the film’s narrative dilemmas, minor to major, at all times but only intervenes during the climax because, well, that is his cue. As the actual Yoda would say, ‘No sense it makes! For the mentally weak, is this film?’”
Variety ask if the film will resonate with younger audiences (remember, Star Wars was constructed for 11 year old kids), check out our spoiler-free thoughts on Making Tracks Reaction Chat, and be sure to come back Friday at 7.00pm for our fuller (and spoilerific) thoughts over at Fantha Tracks Radio and TV.
