The Mandalorian & Grogu likes & dislikes (spoilers).
Liked: Rotta! I think they did such a great job at bringing him back and it was a lot of fun seeing a peak Hutt when we’re so used to the lazy mob boss version.
Disliked: The only character that got any real arc was… Rotta? And don’t get me wrong, I loved that he had an actual story here, but it’s weird that no one else really did.
Liked: The soundtrack was amazing. Ludwig Göransson always delivers.
Disliked: Sigourney Weaver was absolutely wasted. We know nothing about her character, she doesn’t have much of a personality, and she added nothing to the story. Casting a sci-fi legend like that as a Rebel x-wing pilot and then giving her an absolute nothing of a character is a crime. And, adding on to this, we know nothing about the base they’re operating at. They’re New Republic, but they’re all stick rocking Rebellion colors and insignias. We don’t get any explanation about who they are or how Mando found them.
Liked: All of the fight scenes were incredible. The gladiator pit scene might be one of my favorite Star Wars fight scenes of all time, and there’s still several more in the movie that stand out. The action is one of the biggest strengths in this movie.
Disliked: Din needed an arc. I think him learning to be more of a father would’ve been a perfect one for this movie. There’s moments where he gives Grogu commands like “heel”, as if he’s a pet and not his son. I think they had a great opportunity to show him learning how to be less of a bodyguard for the kid and more of a parent. Instead he doesn’t really change or learn anything throughout this story. That is one point I definitely agree with the negative reviews on.
Liked: Grogu! I loved seeing him have an opportunity to take matters into his own hands and take care of Din for a change. Him befriending the anzellans was so sweet. The entire segment of him in the swamp trying to nurse his dad back to health was really lovely and well done. I liked seeing him start to lean into being a Mandalorian foundling. And the puppetry was incredible. It’s so easy to forget that Grogu doesn’t exist and that he is, in fact, a puppet. The team behind him did an incredible job. I do want him to talk, but it’s amazing how much they can get him to convey without speech.
Disliked: Zeb added absolutely nothing. Sigourney Weaver being wasted on a boring role was bad enough, but at least her character pushes the story along. Zeb is one of the few animated characters to transition to the big screen, which should’ve been really exciting! But he doesn’t do anything. He’s just there so people who watched Rebels can go, “Oh, hey! Zeb!” If you haven’t seen Rebels, you’d probably wonder what this guys’ significance is. He and Mando don’t have a relationship, we don’t learn anything about what he’s been doing since Rebels. Din wasn’t around during that show and had no involvement in the rebellion, he very easily could’ve played audience surrogate and have Zeb give him/us a little exposition. This movie really could’ve used a B plot revolving around Zeb and Sigourney’s character (I literally cannot remember what her name is and I don’t even know if the movie says it out loud.)
Liked: The relationship between Din and Grogu is always so fun to watch. It’s always been one of my favorite parts of the show and I am very easily bought in by an unconventional family story.
Disliked: It doesn’t feel like a movie. It felt like 3-4 episodes of the show edited together. And they were good episodes, but it just felt very overwhelmingly like it was missing the structure of a complete movie.
Liked: No big surprise cameos from familiar favorites. They easily could’ve found a way to drop in Ahsoka, Luke, Boba, or anyone we know was around at that time but hadn’t been in the tv show. We didn’t even get Bo or the armorer. The big returning characters like Zeb and Rotta were shown in the trailers. I like that they didn’t try to sway the audience with cameos and let it stand on its own. (Even if Zeb was severely underused, as previously stated.)
Disliked: When Grogu excitedly led his dad back to the ship, not realizing that he couldn’t fit in a ship built for anzellans. And then Din has to lie and tell him that he’ll be right behind him, thinking it’s going to be the last time they ever see each other. :(
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