Mandalorian and Grogu is a step in the right direction
Once again, a whole lot of the Hollywood movie critic tribe is bashing hard on Mandalorian and Grogu, and I have to call them out for it. It has almost become cliche to bag on Disney over the past few years. That beat-down is well deserved. I don’t have to go over the laundry list of reasons, you are all very aware of them.
Surely it can’t get worse than the Acolyte…can it?
So, you can kind of understand how anyone might roll into Mandalorian and Grogu with trepidation…like we might get another like the thrice-darned* Acolyte. Would they do that to our beloved Yodababy?** History has taught us that no Star Wars heresy is off the table. So yeah. I understand the caution. I get it.
You knew the job was dangerous when you took it
But if you want to do the job of movie critic, you have to widen the gaze. You have to check your preconceptions at the concession stand. Often tough, I’ll grant you. But if you want to be trusted, you have to do it. So I do it.
Mandalorian and Grogu was about as safe a Star Wars movie as you can get
Remember in A New Hope when we saw a brief glimpse of a burned up Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru? As a kid, that was pretty ghastly. Today’s littles might not register that as even slightly shocking. and Mandalorian and Grogu didn’t have that much viseral content. So yeah, this movie was as close to PG as you can get and still get the PG13 rating. Lots of bloodless violence, just the way Star Wars made it starting out. Which is funny, if you think about how many billions were killed between the destruction of Alderaan AND the ‘sploding of the Death Star. The body count is actually up there. But I digress.
The point is, I could take my 6 year old Naise to see it and we’d be fine. No trauma to deal with in his later years.
Darned if you do, darned if you don’t
So why all the hate for Mandalorian and Grogu? It was clearly a buddy action flick with no other agenda than to tell a single adventure. Yes, it was short on story. When Sigourney Weaver brought Mando in on a mission ‘to see what the Empire is up to’, you knew it was not going to be an Interstellar-level brain bender. And I was fine with that. More than fine, actually. It was a welcome break.
Mandalorian and Grogu was not going to try to stuff in as much SW lore or future movie foreshadowing as they could. It wasn’t going to rely on you knowing everything about every movie, cartoon or book that was ever created a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
And very thankfully, it contained no noticeable SJW agenda or current socio-political commentary. It was two really good guys dealing a beat-down to really bad guys. Simple as that.
And it had Yodababy
I guess that’s what bugs me about all the detractors and critics bashing on Mandalorian and Grogu. Disney took out all the stuff that made Acolyte a garbage compactor fire and made it like Star Wars was meant to be, and the critics cry foul because it didn’t further the lore. Gimme a break. Just enjoy the things that it did deliver. It was well-paced. There was action (the opening sequence was great!). It had loyalty, bravery, self-sacrifice. It had heart. Something that has been mostly lacking in the Star Wars offerings for a while now.
Star Wars Goonies
Mandalorian and Grogu was very much like SW: Skeleton Crew. In fact, Skeleton Crew had a more intricate story. And they both had an innocence more akin to A New Hope. I’m here to tell you that isn’t a bad thing at all. In A New Hope there was no lore yet. No backstory to be mindful of. And no future plans past three space heroes (and two dinged up droids) wearing medals and smiling for the crowd. A simple story with lovable characters. And we adored it. So I ask the question again…why can’t we love Mandalorian and Grogu the same way? Answer: we can. ‘Critics’ be darned.
Therefore…The Average Dude is proudly giving Mandalorian and Grogu at solid 4 out of 5. Could it have had a bit more story to it? Sure. And some of the action sequences really seemed far fetched (you’ll see what I mean). But was it fun? Absolutely. Did I laugh? Yep, in places and mostly due to Yodababy. And unlike last week’s disappointment, I had someone (or two) to root for. I mean, who’s not going to cheer for Mandalorian and Grogu? So quit all the hating and saying Star Wars is dead. This is a step in the right direction. And if we want to save it, we need to recognize that.
*In keeping with the PG/PG 13 theme for Mandalorian and Grogu
**One of my littles hates it when I call Grogu Yodababy. I poke that little bear every chance I get.
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