Mando, you came and you gave without taking

The Mandalorian and Grogu is the latest film in the polarizing (polarizing since 1983, anyway) Star Wars franchise, and the first theatrical Star Wars movie in seven years (which is a very lengthy gap in terms of the Disney era of Star Wars, but a pretty small gap in Star Wars at large). In the interim since theatrical films, Disney has been more invested in Star Wars as a television enterprise. There has been the extremely popular and lauded The Mandalorian, from which this latest film is a spin-off and/or continuation, the even more lauded and almost as popular Andor (which I've written about), the not quite as lauded and not quite as popular The Book of Boba Fett, the barely-received-at-all Obi-Wan Kenobi, the loathed-by-chuds Ahsoka and The Acolytes, the probably-underrated Skeleton Crew, and literally hundreds of episodes of various animated series, all of which have various dedicated followings. (If Disney's public metrics are to be believed, the majority of Gen Z and Gen Alpha Star Wars viewers pretty much exclusively watch the animated shows if they consume Star Wars content at all.)

The breakout star of all of Star Wars since Disney took over is, without a doubt, Grogu, who was known for a long stretch of time simply as "Baby Yoda" before being given a name, as he is ... well, a baby Yoda. (Despite there being lore and backstory for literally every component of the Star Wars universes, both canon and non-canon (and excised canon), very little is known about the beloved Yoda, whose species is officially known only as "Yoda's species," and whose only other known species member in the movies and television shows was Yaddle, who appeared on the Jedi Council in Episode I and then disappeared.) Grogu has been a runaway merchandise freight train and meme machine, and the calculus behind The Mandalorian and Grogu being the movie to snap the Star Wars movie-less streak seems to be simply that they should find a way to directly monetize new Grogu content. If that reads as cynical, this may end up being the least cynical review of the movie that you're going to read.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is fine, albeit with some truly baffling decisions that keep it from being actively good throughout. Much of the movie is good, and for reasons that the Star Wars fanbase claims to want more of – it looks incredible, the action is thrilling and plentiful, there are plentiful scenes that offer new locations and expand the world as we know it, and there's a boatload of fun practical effects throughout. The addition of characters Zeb and Rotta the Hutt both originated in the animated series and seem designed to try and lure in those viewers as well as Mandalorian fans, but having the second lead of the movie be a Jeremy Allen White-voiced Hutt (Rotta is Jabba's son) is the film's largest and most damaging miscalculation. The Mandalorian as a television show is heavy on "Mando meets a refugee or outlaw or bounty or rebel or roustabout who is seeking absolution/salvation/fraternity/freedom and helps them out," and Rotta's story is more of the same. But we simply don't care about a Hutt – maybe even especially the son of Jabba – finding salvation. The stunt casting of JAW lands even more hollow and nonsensical than Donald Glover playing Yoshi. (At least Glover was having fun there.) Rotta's scenes drag every time they appear in the movie – when he isn't fighting, anyway – and although the search for Rotta and the Mandalorian attempting to find the levers to buy his freedom offer a handful of great scenes and locations and tertiary characters, the movie probably could have found any other way to get there.

The most common criticism of the movie seems to be, "There was no reason for this to be a movie rather than a few episodes of The Mandalorian," and that criticism is largely valid, because

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The Mandalorian and Grogu doesn't offer anything too revelatory to anyone's stories. No one dies. Yoda's species doesn't even get a name! Grogu doesn't say "Eat my shorts" at the end. However,

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I am tending to approach this movie, as I am wont to do, from a Muppet perspective. The practical Grogu puppet in this movie (and what I believe to be occasionally practical Babus Frik) is wonderfully charming, and Jon Favreau and his team work a BUNCH of magic with him throughout the film. I watched a lot of this movie like a watch the Muppet movies, where I'm genuinely impressed with the craft and the fun and endearing characters (Rotta notwithstanding). No one complains that The Great Muppet Caper or Muppet Treasure Island should have been a television special, when the Muppets, like Mandy and Groggy, have both had plots as slight on television and in the movies.

Once again, The Mandalorian and Grogu is fine, although too long, with too much Rotta, and not enough at stake. It is, however, wonderful to look at, and quite a lot of tremendous craft. The score is also top-notch, in part because I find Ludwig Göransson's The Mandalorian theme and scores to be possibly the finest music in Star Wars history. (Yes, I know what I'm saying.) Rewatching episodes of The Mandalorian prior to the movie coming out, I was struck at how insanely good the themes are.

There were probably half a dozen scenes where I was like, "This is a really cool setting that I've never seen in a Star Wars thing before!" and some of the fights and action scenes are also among the best Star Wars has ever done. It's a worthwhile watch in the theater, but don't expect anything Earth-shattering. The biggest indictment of the movie is that it will probably more fun to have repeat viewings at home, so yeah ... I guess it didn't have to be a movie.

Although ... it does have Martin Scorsese having a lot of fun voicing a character, which by definition makes it