‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Is the Best Star Wars Movie Since the Original Trilogy

This is the way. I am sure that there are some wags out there who are demanding to know, “Why should I bother buying a ticket and schlepping out to a local cinema to see ‘The Mandalorian’ when there are already three seasons’ worth of episodes I can watch at home?” I had the opposite experience: viewing “The Mandalorian and Grogu” on a big screen, with a full house of cheering fans, was so enjoyable that now I wish I could somehow re-watch all 24 episodes of the series at the AMC Magic Johnson Theater on West 125th Street.Ever since Disney took over the “Star Wars” IP in 2012, the activity in the margins has become more interesting than the center of the action. The three main features that they gave us, “The Force Awakens” (2015), “The Last Jedi” (2017), and “The Rise of Skywalker” (2019), are, to this diehard fan, the least interesting entries in the entire canon. Granted that this is a legitimate beef against all franchise movies, that they all repeat plot elements and characters from one release to the next, but the so-called sequel trilogy was, to me, an abuse of the privilege. It felt more of a rehash trilogy, with the same three characters, Luke, Leia, and Han, fighting the same evil empire, and left me oversatiated with anything Skywalker. Still, I have to say, who doesn’t want to see Adam Driver skulking about like Richard III and offering his kingdom for a lightsaber?The so-called standalone films are much more interesting, starting with Gareth Edwards’s excellent “Rogue One” (2016) followed by Ron Howard’s very fun “Solo” (2018). It’s hard to believe that the latter was regarded as a box-office disappointment to the tune of a mere $400 million in revenue, but that was the year of Disney-Marvel’s blockbuster “Black Panther.” “Rogue One” led to the acclaimed “Andor” TV series, which presents a thinkier and more philosophical side of the Star Wars universe. Conversely, the new “Mandalorian and Grogu” is an outgrowth of the 2019–2023 series that did so much to get us through the pandemic.Like I say, there are some who will feel the new movie doesn’t offer enough of anything new or particularly deep — there isn’t the ersatz but still heavy-handed spirituality of the Skywalker movies or the profound meditation on the nature of good and evil, autocracy and totalitarianism that we find in “Andor.” Rather, perhaps even more than the TV series, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” takes us back to the original 1977 film and its own inspirations, i.e., the classic adventure, fantasy, and space opera serials of the 1930s, like “Flash Gordon” and “Buck Rogers.”The Mandalorian character has deep roots in a later series, the 1949 “King of the Rocket Men,” featuring the character also known as Commander Cody, who flies around in a jet-propelled space suit bashing bad guys. The character also inspired lots of pop music, from Elton John to the country rock band Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen. Dave Stevens’s 1980s and ’90s flying crimefighter The Rocketeer, later the basis for a 1991 Disney movie adaptation, was another direct descendant.The new movie does what the TV series did, only better, like three or so of the most spectacular episodes strung together, but in a way that doesn’t seem episodic or repetitive. It opens James Bond-style, with the bounty-hunter Mandalorian on a quick assignment before the main titles. The high-tech CGI graphics are, as one would expect, amazing, but the practical effects are possibly even more so. And the single most amazing element is decidedly low-tech: the character Grogu is essentially a hand puppet. The use of the element of “the force” is far more whimsical here than in the nine Skywalker movies; for once, the force isn’t forced upon us.Mandalorian and Grogu in ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Nicola Goode/LucasfilmI’ll let you look for a plot summary elsewhere, or better yet, just go out and see the darn thing. Pedro Pascal, who has become a much bigger star in the seven years since he first started playing the title character, is excellent. As usual, the Mandalorian, whose name is Din Djarin, is off bounty hunting for some elusive lowlife, and virtually every two minutes he has to fight some big creepy reptile monster or a psychotic robot. The major surprise is the first-ever sympathetic Hutt — those big scaly wormlike characters that serve as the main criminal class in this universe — voiced by Jeremy Allen White.Ludwig Göransson’s excellent score is also worth singling out, and there’s another something new in the Star Wars universe: jazz manouche. The original film had a space-age Dixieland number in the cantina, but here we get a Django Reinhardt-style riff played by Swedish guitarist Andreas Öberg, French-Canadian violinist Luanne Homzy, daughter of the major scholar and educator Andrew Homzy, and Long Island-born bassist Mike Valerio.“The Mandalorian and Grogu” is essentially a non-stop series of chases and fights, plus the occasional dramatic scene with sci-fi queen Sigourney Weaver — the closest thing to a leading lady, though hardly a love interest — and adorable moments with Baby Yoda. Once the 132 minutes are over, you want to watch it again. I was there, all of 15, at the old Loew’s Astor Theater on West 44th Street, on the opening day of the original “Star Wars” in 1977, and to me, this is the best “Star Wars” movie since the original trilogy. This is indeed the way.

‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Is the Best Star Wars Movie Since the Original Trilogy

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