Mando and the kid must help the empire and deal with deadly bounty hunters, battle in arenas, and bargain with treacherous Hutts… They also shoot a lot of people along the way lol.
I think my favorite thing about this movie is the tone; it’s kind of like a mob/crime film set in the Star Wars universe, which I’ve never seen before, so it felt fresh and interesting, not to mention a bunch of fun, alien designs with good makeup effects, so the film was very good at delving you into the world.
So when I was growing up, my two favorite Star Wars characters were Yoda and Jabba the Hutt (maybe because they were both green; I don’t know lol), so I’ve always had a soft spot for Hutt characters, and this film has some fun ones. There is a brother and sister on my boss's team that are kind of creepy, like it’s implied they're the head of a weird family “Eyes Wide Shut" cult. I never thought I’d hear that in a Disney film lol, but the other Hutt was Jabba's son Rotta (played by Jeremy Allen White). The actor did a good job, and it was kind of cool to see how Hutts would fight. That's the only thing I’ve actually always kind of wondered about, and it was fun. They're kind of like sumo wrestlers mixed with tanks. Although I will say it was a little unintentional, it was funny hearing a Rotta talking about how "I'm not like my dad; I’m different," because it unintentionally made him sound like a 17-year-old. I’m like, "OK, go listen to your chemical romance and play Halo 2, bud, lol."
As a sidenote, it was a little surprising hearing Rotta speak English, like I’m so used to Hutts speaking in their alien language that it was a little jarring to be able to actually understand them lol.
Pedro Pascal is again solid as the Mandalorian, very good at playing the silent man with no name type. I also really enjoyed all his action scenes; they make him very badass and an efficient fighter.
Another sidenote: there is a fight scene in a snow bunker that takes place in shadows that I thought was pretty cool and stylish; it felt like something from a John Wick movie.
Baby Yoda is cute and fun; I’m sure Disney will sell a lot of Baby Yoda figures off this film lol. I’d also note that the animatronics throughout the entire film were very well done and blended seamlessly into the scenes.
The special effects were solid, there were some good sets, and the CGI on all the aliens was well textured, but I will say it isn’t anything you won’t see in a regular episode of The Mandalorian, and that’s not like a knock against the movie; it’s more of a compliment to the quality of the show, but that leads into probably my biggest criticism: it just feels like a season of the show edited down into a movie, like you can tell while watching the film, "Oh, this is where that episode probably ends and this is where the next one would start," which isn’t necessarily bad. I would just say, depending on your feelings towards the show and how much you enjoy it, I think it would factor in how you feel about the film.
Also, the film does feel more like a series of quests than one cohesive story. Now again, the show had a similar format, and it was enjoyable there, but in this movie, there definitely is a bit of a back-and-forth with everything, and there were certain parts that they really had to overexplain so you would get it, and it was all a bit much. Not to mention there’s a part where you feel like the movie is wrapping up, but then there’s like another half hour left. That half hour did have some enjoyable parts, but it did feel a little disjointed.
The music was solid; it was a good mixture of moody and minimal but seamlessly transitioned to bombastic and theatrical.
Sigourney Weaver is enjoyable as usual; she even gets to do a little bit of fun action.
I liked the worlds we went to; they weren’t necessarily the best-looking Star Wars planets, but they were fun designs.
The pacing was OK; it definitely felt disjointed and even slow at times, but whenever I started to lose interest, there would be something that would grab me again, so it wasn’t too bad.
Yet another sidenote: I have to ask, why would the empire drive those AT-AT walkers up the mountain like that? The walkway is so narrow; that seems oddly hazardous lol.
So the best thing and worst thing about this movie are the same thing… It feels like a season of the TV show fit into a movie. So how much you enjoy this film, I guess, depends on how you feel about that. For me personally, I do enjoy the show, and I do think if this was a season, it actually might be one of the better ones. I guess for me, the crime mob elements mixed with Hutt action made the film fun and enjoyable for me, so I give it 3 1/2 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫. What can I say? I’m a sucker for Hutts, and it gave the film that little extra push for me.
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