The Mandalorian and Grogu, the latest Star Wars movie, and a continuation of the Disney+ series, was released a week late here in South Korea. I just missed its US release date by a few days when I was back for Flynn's graduation. Then I had to spend a week avoiding nerdy YouTube channels and social media posts to prevent spoilers. Anyway, I finally saw it yesterday with Steven.
Is there cursing in the movie? The in-universe swear "dank ferrik" gets spoken a time or two. But despite Hutts being integral to the plot and Zeb Orrelios being a major supporting character, I don't remember any "bantha poodoo" or "kerabast" uttered. So a pretty clean movie, language wise, parents!
How was the movie itself? It was a really well done adventure movie that just happens to be set in the Star Wars universe. It carries the style and the themes of The Mandalorian onto the big screen. If you like the show, you're gonna like the movie. If you don't like the show, well, there's no accounting for taste.
Seriously, though, it's not the high concept and high execution level of Andor. Mando has always been Star Wars for kids (which Star Wars always was) and the kids in us adults that grew up with Star Wars. At its heart, TM&G is a movie about a father and son, trying to make their way in the universe. And it does it well. It's got good pacing, lots of action, fun moments, some emotionally tense moments and a lot of laughs.
I think the movie benefits from not being shot on The Volume. While the show had some impressive backdrops, there were many times when it feels like the worlds are kinda empty when using The Volume (the Obi Wan series was worse than most Mando episodes for this, I think, but it's still an issue). There are definitely some CGI wonderland scenes, but a lot more of it was practical and you can see the difference.
I've seen some people complaining about the puppet used for Grogu, but I still like it. While its movements aren't completely natural, the fact that Grogu, and the Anzellans (the little weirdo mechanics) are practical puppets in the scenes gives them more presence. Of course, I'm an old Gen-Xer who grew up with Sesame Street, Muppets, The Dark Crystal, and various other Jim Henson properties, and puppet Yoda. Young whipper-snappers can get off my puppet-appreciating lawn!
Long story short, if you think all Star Wars should be serious drama like Andor from now on (I get it, I do! Andor was GREAT!), you might be disappointed by this kid-friendly adventure movie. But if you like classic action-adventure, and like Star Wars, you're probably going to like it.
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