Mandalorian movie just hit theaters, and the reviews are… politely disappointed. After seven years without a Star Wars film on the big screen—seven years since The Rise of Skywalker limped to the finish line—Jon Favreau delivered The Mandalorian and Grogu, and critics responded with a collective shrug that could be heard from Tatooine to Coruscant. It’s not terrible. It’s just not the triumphant return anyone was hoping for.
Mandalorian movie currently sits at 62% on Rotten Tomatoes, which in Star Wars terms is like getting a C+ on your thesis about why lightsabers are cool. The consensus seems to be that it’s “fine,” which might be the most damning word in the English language. Fine is what you say about a sandwich. Fine is not what you want from the first Star Wars movie in nearly a decade.
The problem, according to multiple critics, is that Mandalorian movie feels like television. Not just because it started as a TV show—though that doesn’t help—but because the scope, the pacing, and the storytelling all feel designed for streaming rather than cinema. IndieWire called it “content.” Variety suggested it has a “small-screen consciousness.” The Telegraph went harder, calling it “the dullest and most inconsequential Star Wars ever made.” Ouch.
But let’s be fair. Mandalorian movie has defenders too. TheWrap called it “the most purely entertaining Star Wars movie since the 1980s.” Polygon admitted it “probably shouldn’t exist” but was “glad it did.” And everyone agrees that Grogu remains adorable, that the action sequences work, and that Ludwig Göransson’s score is hypnotic. The issue isn’t that it’s bad. The issue is that it’s safe.
The plot follows Din Djarin and Grogu as the New Republic hires them to rescue Rotta the Hutt, voiced by Jeremy Allen White in a casting choice that sounds like a Mad Lib. Sigourney Weaver also stars, because why not add Ripley to the Star Wars universe? But the story apparently loops back to where it started, offering no forward momentum for the franchise. Den of Geek called it “the first summer tentpole blockbuster that feels like a small screen rerun.”
Mandalorian movie arrives at a crucial moment for Star Wars. The franchise turns 50 next year, and Disney needs to prove it can still justify theatrical releases. If audiences show up for this despite the mixed reviews, we’ll get more. If they stay home and wait for Disney+, the theatrical future looks grim. The film is projected for a $160 million global opening, which would be solid but not spectacular.
Grogu remains the MVP. Critics praised a nearly silent sequence where the little green guy survives alone on a hostile world, calling it the film’s best passage. Mandalorian movie might not save Star Wars, but it proves that Baby Yoda still has the power to make grown adults say “awww” in public. Sometimes that’s enough. Sometimes.
See Mandalorian movie in theaters now and decide for yourself if Star Wars still has the Force.
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