ALT Seven years since The Rise Of Skywalker, the first Star Wars theatrical release is here with THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU! How does the return of Din Djarin and Grogu (and ultimately Star Wars) on the big screen fare? Unfortunately, Mando and Grogu’s journey to cinemas is not triumphant, despite being earnest. In a time where streaming and the theatrical experience seem fraught, any direction Star Wars could take in response would always be fascinating. Following The Rise Of Skywalker or The Acolyte dividing opinions among some in the fandom, what would the return of Star Wars to cinemas be? It seems this return heralds an echo to tRoS: safe appeasement. When The Mandalorian S1 premiered, it gathered universal acclaim among fandom, and everyone and their mom knew who “Baby Yoda” was. The series eventually grew the mythos of Din Djarin, Grogu, Mandalore, and the Galaxy at large setting up a “Mandoverse” that seemed as ambitious as the MCU. After S3 concluded in 2023, we all wondered wh

ALT Where The Mandalorian offered intriguing themes about diaspora and religious fanatiscim, mysteries connecting the Imperial Remnant to Thrawn and Palpatine’s eventual return, this film offers little to further Din’s journey or Grogu’s. The creature-feature that this film is, while spectacular, also feels like we’re being begged to remember Jabba The Hutt, the Dejarik creatures, or any of the previous Star Wars characters we’ve seen. Every Star Wars movie has given us something we haven’t seen before, this film is content providing the familiarity of comfort. The nature of this film begs us to recall and remember the series, but where we’ve previously had adventures that felt expansive with the New Republic or the retaking of Mandalore, here we zoom in to a small story that, despite it’s simplicity, fails to be intimate. However, there is one Grogu sequence that is the standout and felt like what the film needed to explore more... Ultimately, THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU is a film that