Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu review notes the cuteness of Baby Yoda and the scariness of the monsters can’t quite make up for the film’s flaws, but its still very much worth the watch.

As a fan of all three seasons of The Mandalorian on Disney+, I believed a feature length film involving the same insanely endearing characters, also directed by John Favreau, was a pretty clever idea. It certainly wouldn’t be hard to beat the last film in the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker, which received an embarrassing 51% from my colleagues on Rotten Tomatoes.

After screening the film, I decided I was right. It is much better than The Rise of Skywalker, but not even close to the vast majority of the eight other films in the Star Wars franchise. It’s a wee bit too cute, and a whole lot too lazy.

Let me explain. Grogu (aka Baby Yoda), is a merchandiser’s dream. The adorable little guy looks cute on everything, from t-shirts to stuffies to Burger King drinks. I admit to affixing a Baby Yoda Jibbitz on my lavender Crocs — it’ a big hit with the high school kids when we make our therapy dog visits.

But can one amazingly adorable creature an entire movie make? Not so much. You really need an intriguing plot, and this felt like one long TV episode, or perhaps several episodes strung together. There just wasn’t that much at stake, not enough urgency, and too many monster attacks. Granted, the monsters were interestingly rendered, but did they have to pop out of every single corner? At over two hours, what feels like a monster a minute gets a little tiring.

Speaking of monsters, about those Hutts… I can’t decide if this chapter’s villains look more like giant sea slugs or muscular turds. Either way, I was very uncomfortable watching them roll around on each other. Giant ick factor. Why, oh why, were Jeremy Allen White’s many talents so wasted on the character of Rotta the Hutt? His voice was so modulated it could have been anyone. Dare I say it? Even AI.

On the topic of substitutions, a lot of viewers—especially those who hadn’t seen the TV series, asked me if they used a stand-in for Pedro Pascal for most of the Mandalorian, since we only saw his face for about two minutes and he was wearing an entire head helmet for the rest of the film. How would we know, really? I’m sure Pascal’s hidden face is an important conceit of the franchise, but it works much better in half-hour episodes than in an entire film. Viewers want to see Pascal’s comely mug, damnit!

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu review — plenty to like

Now, for all my gritching, on the whole I found the movie engaging. I continuously found the child in me being delighted by the antics of the titular little guy, even if they did skimp on his animation—when we saw him jumping from somewhere off screen onto the Mandalorian’s back, it looked like someone had thrown a potato sack at him and fixed it in post.

Little Lisa was also entertained by the space chases, the battles, the victories of the noble and the tender moments between father and son, er, knight and squire? Uncle and ward? Whatever those two are to each other. It was sweet, and I sighed and giggled and awwed and cooed with the rest of the audience.

In essence the film is ideal for the little ones, with just the right mix of delights and scares and wonderments. Adult audiences who remember the glories of Star Wars past may come away a bit disappointed, but no franchise is flawless. Star Wars: The Mandolarian and Grogu is entertaining enough to be worth the price of admission.

Rated: PG-13

2 Hours 12 Minutes

If this Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu review encourages you to fly on over to your local complex, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu review notes the cuteness of Baby Yoda and the scariness of the monsters can’t quite make up for the film’s flaws, but its still very much worth the watch.