{"id":585480,"date":"2026-05-15T12:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T12:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585480\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T12:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T12:52:17","slug":"the-mandalorian-and-grogu-called-one-of-the-weakest-star-wars-movies-in-mixed-first-reactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585480\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mandalorian and Grogu called “one of the weakest Star Wars movies” in mixed first reactions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first verdicts are in for The Mandalorian and Grogu, with the new Star Wars movie gaining a mixed early reception from critics. The film marks the first big screen outing to a galaxy far, far away in seven years, and acts as a continuation of TV show The Mandalorian.<\/p>\n

The movie sees Pedro Pascal back as Din Djarin alongside his adorable little green sidekick, as they are tasked by the New Republic to rescue Jabba the Hutt’s son Rotta (Jeremy Allen White).<\/p>\n

Also starring Sigourney Weaver, the film is directed by The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau, who co-writes with new Lucasfilm boss Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor.<\/p>\n

\"pedro<\/p>\n

Disney<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

However, was it worth the wait?<\/p>\n

Well, social media reactions are flying in, and it seems that things are skewering both ways in terms of opinion. On the less glowing side, writer Jonathan Sim called it “one of the weakest Star Wars movies”.<\/p>\n

“An emotionless, predictable experience that doesn’t push Din Djarin anywhere interesting,” he added on X<\/a>, further spotlighting “dull, unexciting fight scenes” before labelling it “a long, colorless made-for-TV movie”. <\/p>\n

Gizmodo’s Germain Lussier suggested<\/a> it was more akin to “a longer, bigger episode of the show” with “one or two stand-out scenes”, adding: “But it feels much more interested in developing the story to new locations with new creatures than the characters. Enjoyed some of it, left frustrated but the rest.”<\/p>\n

\"pedro<\/p>\n

Disney<\/p>\n

The movie is “fine” and an “inoffensive, technically impressive spectacle that’s kinda a snooze-fest”, according to<\/a> FilmSpeak’s Griffin Schiller, who compared it to “an abridged season of the TV show, which unfortunately plays like watching the cutscenes of a Star Wars video game instead of playing one”.<\/p>\n

After arguing “weaknesses in the writing and lack of emotional connection”, he did add that it was “a nice return to the pulpiness and simplicity of the first two seasons” and “if you love the show, I’m sure you’ll have fun”.<\/p>\n

In a more glowing verdict, writer Courtney Howard said<\/a> The Mandalorian and Grogu is “a ton of fun”, calling it: “A perfect Summer movie. Action-packed with a lot of humor & heart. Not episodic. A fully cinematic journey. Grogu steals the show. See it on the biggest screen possible.”<\/p>\n

“The marketing had me worried, but this movie is actually a lot of fun,” wrote<\/a> SlashFilm’s Peter Sciretta. “Yes, it does feel like a supersized high budget few episodes of the TV show – more of an adventure of the week than a huge galactic event story. If you like the show, you\u2019ll love this. If you didn\u2019t, you probably won\u2019t. The Anzellans steal the show.”<\/p>\n

The Mandalorian and Grogu is released in cinemas on 22 May 2026.<\/p>\n

Visit our Streaming Guide<\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, a collector’s edition exploring the royal family, is here! Buy The Royals in newsagents or online<\/a>.
<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies<\/a>, TV<\/a> and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME<\/a> and Screen International<\/a>. \u00a0Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings<\/a> to Love Is Blind<\/a>, and is equally in his element crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’ as a sub-editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first verdicts are in for The Mandalorian and Grogu, with the new Star Wars movie gaining a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[147950,182867,190857,379,200098,381,96,190731,1156,2839,200097,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-585480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-collection-star-wars","tag-collection-the-mandalorian","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-23bd96c3-faf9-417d-8cfd-0951448d672b","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-movies","tag-shorttitle-mandalorian-grogu-called-one-of-weakest-star-wars-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}