Rob Reviews: The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026)

This Saturday, Kid 2 and I headed to the theater to catch The Mandalorian & Grogu. For those who might be casual viewers or completely new to this corner of the galaxy, the film is a direct continuation of the hit Disney+ series.

Our main character, Din Djarin (often just called “Mando”), is the closest thing the modern Star Wars franchise has to a gunslinging bounty hunter or a soldier of fortune. He is very much the classic Western “Man with No Name,” right down to the iconic armor that echoes Boba Fett’s classic look from the original trilogy. As a Mandalorian, he subscribes to a strict, ancient code of honor—though as we’ve seen before, his personal moral compass often takes priority over a paycheck.

📋 The Setup

The movie picks up in the aftermath of The Mandalorian Season 3, sitting roughly five years after the events of Return of the Jedi. The Galactic Empire has been defeated, but the New Republic is still actively policing the outer rims for dangerous “Imperial remnants.”

At the close of Season 3, Mando agreed to work for the New Republic as an independent contractor. The film kicks off with his latest assignment: bring in Rotta the Hutt—the last surviving child of Jabba the Hutt. In exchange for Rotta’s safe return, the New Republic will receive critical intelligence from the Hutt family to track down a rogue Imperial remnant warlord.

🎬 The Plot & The Climax

True to form, things get complicated quickly. Mando tracks Rotta to a gladiatorial arena where the young Hutt is being held captive to pay off a debt. Surprisingly, Rotta is absolutely jacked—proving it is entirely possible for an oversized space slug to sport a six-pack and massive biceps.

Realizing Rotta is nothing like his tyrannical father or uncle, Mando’s honor code kicks in. He enters the arena himself to fight for the Hutt’s freedom before a rigged final match can claim his life. They manage a classic, action-packed escape, but Rotta drops a massive truth bomb: if he is returned to his family, his own uncle will kill him. Furthermore, the man who held Rotta captive—a warlord named Coin—is actually the exact Imperial target the New Republic is hunting.

Choosing “Option C,” Mando sends Rotta into hiding with a trusted gun runner. Unfortunately, Mando is promptly captured by the notorious bounty hunter Embo and dragged straight to the Hutt Palace, where he discovers the Hutts have already recaptured Rotta anyway. To make matters worse, Mando suffers a poisonous bite from a giant palace beast.

With the clock ticking on his survival, Mando manages a desperate escape into the woods, but the poison quickly begins to take its toll. While the tiny Anzellans head back to summon the New Republic, Grogu stays behind on the planet to track down his partner. Utilizing a bit of classic Force-healing to close the wound, and with the help of a local woods dweller who provides a makeshift antidote, Grogu manages to pull Mando back from the brink just in time.

What follows is a frantic, coordinated rescue. While Mando heads back into the belly of the beast to free Rotta, Grogu and the Anzellans rally to back him up. Just as the team makes their messy breakout from the Hutt fortress, the New Republic arrives in spectacular fashion. The finale treats us to a fantastic, traditional X-Wing dogfight in the skies, completely destroying the fortress just as Mando and Rotta make their clean getaway.

With the dust settled, Rotta is left safely in the care of Zeb at the New Republic base, leaving Mando and Grogu to take off into the stars in their new ship—the Razor Crest legacy continuing—presumably bound for their next great adventure.

🎙️ My Take: The Verdict

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Mandalorian & Grogu. Refreshingly, it doesn’t feature the standard “fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance” stakes that weigh down so many modern blockbusters. In a lot of ways, it feels like a big-budget, extended episode of the television show, and that’s a genuinely great thing. The Mandalorian remains the easiest jumping-on point and arguably the best original concept of the Disney Star Wars era.

While Mando is frequently compared to an Old West gunslinger, there’s a moment in this film where he loses his sacred helmet, and his sheer resourcefulness reminded me heavily of Indiana Jones scrambling for his trademark fedora.

Per the traditions of Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the movie is absolutely packed with nostalgic Easter eggs:

The Toys: An Imperial Commander escapes an AT-AT using a ship that looks exactly like the mini-rig vehicles from the 1980s Kenner toy line.

The Cameos: Zeb from Star Wars Rebels shows up as a prominent supporting character, serving as Mando’s copilot and gunner.

The Connections: The tiny Anzellans who befriended Grogu are the same species as Babu Frik from the sequel trilogy, subtly bridging this era to what comes later.

Kid 2 has only seen a few episodes of the main series, but he had absolutely no trouble keeping up with the plot. It’s an action-packed, incredibly fun ride filled with fantastic dogfights in both the atmosphere and deep space. The only nods to the Jedi or the Force come from Grogu himself.

When we walked out of the theater, I asked Kid 2 what he thought of the whole thing. His review was better than anything I could write:

“I wish I had three arms right now, so I could give it three thumbs up!”

🌟 Final Rating: Saturday Afternoon Popcorn

Go into it with an open mind. It isn’t as grand or epic as the core Skywalker Saga, nor is it as heavy-handed and grim as Rogue One or Andor. It is pure, entertaining Saturday afternoon entertainment. Even the promotional marketing for the film felt like a throwback to the old Hollywood matinee serials that originally inspired George Lucas. If you’re a fan of the “Mando-verse,” it’s absolutely worth the price of admission.

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