'The Mandalorian and Grogu' is a good enough 'Star Wars' side quest

Adam Graham, Detroit News Film CriticThu, May 21, 2026 at 10:21 PM UTC

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(L-R) Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu in Lucasfilm's THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU. Photo by Nicola Goode. © 2025 Lucasfilm Ltd™. All Rights Reserved.

The best part about "The Mandalorian and Grogu" is that it doesn't have to be "Star Wars."

The big screen spinoff of the Disney+ series is very much a part of the "Star Wars" universe, and there are all sorts of callbacks (and call forwards) to the characters and objects fans love about "Star Wars," from AT-AT Walkers to Jabba the Hutts to, well, Baby Yodas.

But it doesn't carry the full weight of a full-fledged "Star Wars" project and everything that comes with it. Consider it a side quest, and as side quests go, "The Mandalorian and Grogu" is good enough.

It's full of creatures and worlds and adventures that feel familiar but are just different enough to stand on their own.

Sometimes it's a little too familiar, and it comes off like a less-than chapter in the ongoing, far-reaching "Star Wars" saga.

But director and co-writer Jon Favreau takes good care of the property, and his characters, and lets "The Mandalorian and Grogu" be just weird enough to make the case for its existence.

It starts off with the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), the masked, armored bounty hunter who has led three seasons of "The Mandalorian," taking on an assignment from his boss, Ward, played by Sigourney Weaver.

Mando, as he's known for short, is joined by his buddy Grogu, the miniature Yoda who is his sidekick, the "Muppet Babies" version of the wizened, old Jedi master who is the conscience of the "Star Wars" universe.

Ward sends Mando to track down the Hutts — everyone remembers Jabba, the slithery, slimy slug lord of the Hutts — who send him on a mission to track down Rotta the Hutt, Jabba's son, and return him to Nal Hutta. Rotta is voiced by Jeremy Allen White and is involved in the gladiator scene; imagine an intergalactic UFC, and he's your guy.

When Mando is double-crossed by the Hutts — hate to say you saw it coming — he ends up in a fight for his life, which is where "The Mandalorian and Grogu" gets interesting: There's a long, largely wordless stretch of the movie where Grogu takes over, as he fends for himself and attempts to help out his buddy, where Favreau and his team are allowed to flex their storytelling muscles and create a world for their miniature hero.

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Over Ludwig Göransson's always engaging, very un-"Star Wars" score, the movie becomes an adventure in puppetry, taking place a strange land populated by odd creatures in what feels like a throwback, Jim Henson-style landscape. It feels small and tactile in a way that "Star Wars" rarely does anymore, and it's where "The Mandalorian and Grogu" shines brightest.

Elsewhere, it often feels flat. Pascal's monotone delivery as the man behind the mask lacks emotional resonance, which is part of the character (or is the entirety of the character), but that doesn't help when that character is the lead of the movie.

The movie is, in a sense, a series of strung together action scenes, and while it's not top notch action, it's enough, and the creatures — particularly a water-dwelling dragon snake who lives beneath the Hutts' lair — conjure up some of the old "Star Wars" magic. (There are also a pair of mechanical robot figures whose animation is refreshingly choppy, like they were made from the spare parts of the technology that brought "Robocop's" ED-209 to life, a reminder that the latest technology isn't always the best technology.)

After seven years without a "Star Wars" movie in theaters, "The Mandalorian and Grogu" may not be the engine to jump start the "Star Wars" machine. But there's a tactile enjoyability to it that feels like there's room for it in the ever-expansive "Star Wars" universe. Not everything has to carry the full weight of the Empire, or "A New Hope." Sometimes a little hope is enough.

agraham@detroitnews.com

'The Mandalorian and Grogu'

GRADE: B-

Rated PG-13: for sci-fi violence and action

Running time: 132 minutes

In theaters

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Review: 'Mandalorian and Grogu' a worthwhile 'Star Wars' side quest

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