With humour and heart, Disney focuses on the next generation of fans. Its latest instalment in the Star Wars film franchise has Baby Yoda front and centre.
“Don’t be cowards. Shoot the puppet!”
Not an actual line from the new Star Wars movie but a plea from acclaimed director Werner Herzog. He starred in The Mandalorian TV series and feared Disney bosses would use CGI to bring Baby Yoda to life.
The sometime actor surprised audiences as the chilling villain in the first season of Pedro Pascal’s The Mandalorian. Now he’s apparently besotted with the “heartbreakingly beautiful” animatronic Grogu. He challenged director Dave Filloni and showrunner Jon Favreau to pull back on computer effects and focus on filming the actual puppet.
It’s a sentiment Favreau, who directs The Mandalorian and Grogu, and Filoni, now president of Lucasfilm, have very much taken to heart here. They’ve made a brave choice to try and rejuvenate the ailing Jedi franchise through a buddy movie based around a masked man and a puppet. Not a lightsaber in sight!
The puppet in question, a Yoda-species youngling named Grogu, has been starring opposite Pascal in Disney’s show since 2019. Mature fans who had hoped this feature-length movie would bring balance to the franchise after several recent missteps might be disappointed by the standalone storyline. But this swashbuckling space adventure is aimed squarely at a new generation. And children are sure to take Baby Yoda to heart.
It’s been seven years since Herzog’s former Imperial officer first tried to hunt down Grogu. And now, after three seasons and three spin-offs series, the little guy is getting a very big screen outing – starring in the first Star Wars feature filmed specifically for Imax.
Mando’s mask stays on
Set just after where the original Star Wars trilogy ended, Pascal is still the man behind The Mandalorian mask – a bounty hunter tracking down Imperial fugitives. Fans of his face will need to look elsewhere though, as we only see it in the flesh for a few scenes.
Sigourney Weaver, who does a star turn as Ward, a New Republic leader tasked with extinguishing the last of the fallen Empire, offers up leads for “Mando” and his own ward to seek out. And so, at her suggestion, our heroes head off in search of Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta. The heir apparent, voiced by Jeremy Allen White, has been cast aside by his power-hungry uncle and is being held by a criminal overlord. While the movie is jam-packed with other animatronic aliens for Grogu to play off, White’s ripped CGI Hutt proves how right Herzog is about “shooting the puppet”.
Grogu takes centre stage
With little in the way of world-building and few of the political powerplays seen in recent Star Wars TV success story Andor, Mando and his young apprentice are free to adventure on snow planets, and chase down At-Ats before falling foul of the Hutts. That altercation sets up a middle act where Grogu takes centre stage and makes a big bid for the audience’s heart.
Wounds licked, we’re back into the action – and it hurtles along, powered by a hypnotic soundtrack from original The Mandalorian composer Ludwig Göransson. He adds stomping 80s-style synth to his usual space Western score.
The franchise’s 12th live action film might be the most fun so far, but this perfectly serviceable action movie will disappoint hardcore fans hungry for Jedi hijinks. Meanwhile, for those expecting the sort of Saturday morning movie that was once a mainstay of Hollywood’s output, The Mandalorian and Grogu is a force to be reckoned with.
Star Wars – The Mandalorian and Grogu is in cinemas from May 21.
