It’s been over three years since the last season of Disney’s Pedro Pascal-led space Western The Mandalorian was released, and roughly six years since we last saw a live-action Star Wars film on the big screen. While the likes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and Andor have filled the gap in storytelling in the years between, 2026 has marked an unusual pause in the never-ending stream of live-action Star Wars spin-offs.
But now, The Mandalorian is back to fill the void with The Mandalorian and Grogu, and Disney and Lucasfilm are clearly hoping that fans will forget how bad the show’s third season was now that it’s made the transition to the big screen. With The Mandalorian and Grogu hitting theaters on May 22, they’re also probably praying that enough time has passed between the last Star Wars trilogy that the fanbase’s fatigue has worn off.
But none of that will matter if the movie itself is bad. It’s hard to say how much early reviews will affect the ticket sales of a Star Wars film, but The Mandalorian and Grogu’s current 63-percent score on Rotten Tomatoes ain’t great. It’s not quite terrible, but it is decidedly middle of the road stuff for what many expected to be a breezy, all-ages crowd-pleaser.
The consensus score on Rotten Tomatoes rarely paints the full picture; sometimes a 60-percent score is due to a wide range in opinion, a mix of 1s and 10s. Unfortunately, in this case the majority of reviewers agree that The Mandalorian and Grogu is a solid 3 out of 5 affair. At least the tie-in burger is nice.
Empire Magazine
Oddly, it feels like the least consequential Mandalorian chapter yet, with previous episodes from the TV incarnation — or even segments of the much-maligned Book Of Boba Fett — having more impact on the narrative. It’s thinner than skimmed blue milk, with longtime series stewards Jon Favreau (director and co-writer) and Dave Filoni (co-writer and new Galactic Emperor of the entire franchise) largely playing it safe. – John Nugent
Mashable
Despite any worries the film may stir up, we know Din and Grogu will be a pair for as long as Disney will milk them. And anyway, this standout section must end to make way for an unremarkable climax. Still, for those few brief minutes, The Mandalorian and Grogu finds greatness. In the end, though, the film sticks to Star Wars’ current road map to the future. Paradoxically, that strategy is just “look to the past,” and the galaxy is all the less fortunate for it. – Belen Edwards
Digital Spy
We are grumpy on occasion, it’s true, but it’s telling that even in our screening that was filled with Star Wars fans, even the ‘hero’ moments of the set pieces were met with barely a murmur. There’s nothing wrong with the idea of a standalone Star Wars adventure. It’s blockbuster season, we just want to be entertained. The problem for The Mandalorian and Grogu is that it’s just not that entertaining. – Ian Sandwell
Variety
Disney, the purveyor of the Star Wars multiverse, is offering nothing more (or less) than a couple of likable, diverting, semi-forgettable episodes jammed together, albeit with the lavishly scaled action of a big-budget movie adventure. Yet there’s no escaping that The Mandalorian and Grogu comes at us with a tidy small-screen consciousness. The upshot is that maybe that’s what Star Wars now is. – Owen Gleiberman
IGN
The Mandalorian and Grogu dutifully offers another two hours and change of watching Din Djarin and his adorable green son fly to some planets and clear out rooms of monsters or gangsters every 20 minutes or so. But this is a Star Wars movie missing the thrills, the surprises, the challenges, the addition of really anything of note to the franchise, not to mention a vested interest in seeing its characters grow and change. This is not the way. – Tom Jorgensen
Slashfilm
There have been worse [Star Wars] movies before and there will inevitably be worse ones to come. This sure feels like the most boring, though — one whose philosophy seems to be that you can’t swing and miss if you never bother taking the bat off your shoulders. That might be its greatest sin of all. – Jeremy Mathai
Vulture
Amazingly, the film is at its best when it really slows down: By far its most compelling part involves a strange mid-movie interlude when the action stops entirely and all we witness is the somber spectacle of one character taking care of another. I won’t give away what this actually entails, but it does allow the puppetry of Grogu to shine and briefly reminds us of the wide-canvas irreverence that Favreau (Iron Man, Jungle Book, Made) once seemed capable of. But then the segment is over, and it’s on to the next thing. – Bilge Ebiri
Indie Wire
As the film, scripted by Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Noah Kloor moves grindingly along, it’s easy to see seams that sure feel episodic in nature. With the Rotta mission complete (or is it?), Mando and Grogu return home and set about some housekeeping, which fortunately involves four adorable Anzellan mechanics, who provide a little relief when it comes to the film’s often flat character design. – Kate Erbland
AV Club
Indeed, The Mandalorian & Grogu is almost aggressively anti-thematic, preferring to keep even its most obvious parenting metaphors muted and largely unexplored. The movie wants to show you a good time, and it does. Some of its creatures even have some semblance of soul. The “why” of its pivot away from human expression, however, remains opaque, with sinister undertones: Is this mask-and-puppet show a preventative measure to insulate filmmakers (or parent companies) from the uncomfortable but inevitable situation of beloved actors aging (or dying) out of their signature roles? – Jesse Hassenger
Collider
A forgettable Star Wars movie is one thing, but a project that damages a once-great character is another. Ever since Book of Boba Fett, the forward momentum and progression that made Din Djarin so interesting has been repeatedly walked back. Being separated from Grogu so he can train with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)? That lasted a few months. Losing the Razor Crest ship? He gets the same ship in this movie. Wielding the Dark Saber? He hands it over to Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) almost instantly. The Mandalorian and Grogu is just another case of Disney and Lucasfilm feeling like they don’t really know what to do with the character. – Aidan Kelley
