Star Scuffle

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is perhaps the purest distillation of a problem the franchise has had ever since the end of the original trilogy. The inability to expand the scope of its story. Commercially, it became a world devouring behemoth, but in terms of narrative it has never moved past (on the big screen anyway) those first films. George Lucas delivered a prequel trilogy that showed us how we got to his 1977 original. Disney's new trio of movies ended up amounting to little more than bringing the gang back and adding some new faces to the hamster wheel. They also gave us a couple of spin-off films dedicated to filling in unimportant details of the classic adventures. Eventually, a sprawling galaxy far, far away starts to look pretty small. Now their return to cinemas after a (much needed) seven year break is a lengthened episode of a TV show that exists because one of the characters in the original films looked pretty cool.

With a laboured structure (there are three acts there if you squint a little) and lack of scale, the film's streaming show roots are very apparent. The plot involves The Mandalorian (kick ass bounty hunter with morals) and Grogu (adorable baby version of iconic Star Wars character Yoda) taking some bounties and running afoul of intergalactic gangsters "The Hutts". The good news is that this is perfectly accessible to newcomers, with no knowledge of the Mandalorian show or even really Star Wars at large, necessary to follow the story. The bad news is that there isn't much to follow. It is very much a collection of moments and you can see the stitching where episodes of a canned fourth season of the show were meant to be.

As in the show, Pedro Pascal brings the voice, and star power, to The Mandalorian (or Din Djarin to give him his almost never used full name) but is often not actually in the suit, sharing the physical acting duties with Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder. Whoever is in the suit, Mando looks the part but his fighting style is a strange mix of classic Star Wars blasting and sub John Wick fisticuffs that is a little uncanny.

Speaking of uncanny, third character/plot device Rota the Hutt doesn't really work at all. Voiced by Jeremy Allen White, he is essentially a muscular giant slug. He is the son of the famous Jabba, but speaks crystal clear English rather than the Hutt's usual throaty growl and is an odd looking and sounding CG screen presence. A fight scene involving him towards the end of the movie just looks like three blobs bumping into each other like snooker balls.

Not everything is fired from a CG blunderbuss though. The film's saving grace is some excellent puppet work, most notably in the form of Grogu. He looks adorable and every wide eyed stare or defiant munch of a biscuit exudes personality. Director Jon Favreau was originally going to render the little guy in CG but was talked into using a puppet by legendary German director Werner Herzog, who appeared in the first series of the show. Favreau did well to listen as puppets tend to age better than any other special effect and "Baby Yoda" is one of the most iconic screen creations of recent years. Any time he and/or fellow puppets the Anzellan Droidsmiths (tiny engineers who fix up our hero's ship) are on screen, the film is an absolute delight. In an ideal world they would have been the focus of the majority of the movie.

With ambition smaller than its diminutive green co-lead, The Mandalorian and Grogu certainly does not usher in a bold new era for Star Wars. For the most part it's barely passable even as forgettable money generating fodder, but the artistry and charm of some outstanding puppetry lift it into worth checking out territory. Although you can probably just wait until it joins the show on the mouse based streaming service.

6 duplicitous crime lords out of 10

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