By Susan Granger
While it’s billed as a “Star Wars” film. “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is actually a big-screen spinoff of the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian,” which made its debut in 2019, introducing a brawny, fully-armored, bounty-hunting Mandalorian warrior Din ‘Mando’ Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his tiny, always hungry ward Grogu, resembling a Baby Yoda.
Director/writer Jon Favreau, along with co-writers David Filoni & Noah Kloor, begins with some fast-paced, high-octane sequences leading into the New Republic’s Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver) dispatching Mando-the-mercenary to capture an evil Imperial warlord so elusive that no one even knows his name – except the slimy Hutt Twins, slug cousins of notorious Jabba the Hutt.
In return, the Hutt Twins demand that Mando rescue their nephew, Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy Allen White), currently enslaved as a gladiator on a distant planet by evil Sith Lord Janu (Jonny Coyne).
Wailing, “Do you know how hard it is to be your own man when your father is Jabba the Hutt?” – Rotta is a seriously conflicted dude.
Episodic in its adventure structure, the formulaic plot consists of numerous ‘battle’ sequences as the visual effects artists demonstrate their technical expertise, propelled by Ludwig Goransson’s superb score.
Not surprisingly, adorable, animatronic Grogu steals the show. He’s a curious, often willful, magical child who demonstrates his loyalty and devotion to his adoptive father-figure when Mando is poisoned by a really scary swamp-snake.
FYI: While Pedro Pascal voices Mando, whose face appears only briefly, the character is mostly played by helmeted stunt doubles Brendan Wayne & Lateef Crowder. And if the raspy voice of nervous food truck chef Hugo Durant sounds familiar, it belongs to Martin Scorsese (who directed a movie called “Hugo”).
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is an action-packed 7 – in theaters everywhere…and there’s no mid-or-post credits scene.
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Susan Granger
Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in Journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has appeared on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie critic for many years. Read all her reviews at susangranger.com.
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