Lucasfilm is releasing the first “Star Wars” movie in cinemas in seven years with “The Mandalorian and Grogu” this Friday, and now the first reviews are out.
With 57 reviews counted, the film has snagged a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 56/100 on Metacritic.
As “Star Wars” films go, that’s not great – putting the movie as the fourth worst of the franchise on both aggregate sites – coming in just ahead of the first two prequels and “The Rise of Skywalker”.
Many reviews seem to suggest it’s fine, with nothing really in it that justifies making it into a movie rather than simply doing another season of the TV series. Here’s a sampling of reviews:
“The film is watchable and barrels along capably enough, but perhaps there isn’t enough of the humanity, humour and extravagant space melodrama which has made and continues to make Star Wars lovable.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“It’s hard to imagine anyone experiencing this as their first Star Wars film and getting hooked for life as those who saw the original trilogy in theaters did. Still, it’s an entertaining, fast-spaced space adventure.” – Frank Scheck, THR
“There have been some exciting new stories told in this universe since The Rise of Skywalker, but watching this latest installment of Lone Wolf and Cub in space just confirms the degree to which Star Wars feels like it’s spinning its wheels.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence
“”t’s a deft and enjoyable blockbuster, easily the most purely entertaining ‘Star Wars’ movie since the 1980s, even though it’s hardly the most meaningful or ambitious.” – William Bibbiani, The Wrap
“Everything Disney needed to revive the franchise after its seven-year absence from cinemas is in here. The problem is there is only around 20 minutes of it, and much of the rest is hopeless.” – Robbie Colin, The Daily Telegraph
“Inessential and inoffensive, frequently adorable and fun for the whole family, Jon Favreau’s film feels like three good-enough TV episodes smushed together.” – Kate Erbland, Indiewire
“Drab and stone-faced to a fault, The Mandalorian and Grogu struggles to capture the inventive vitality of the better Star Wars movies with action scenes that feel frustratingly pro forma and lifeless performances that seem determined to lull us to sleep.” – Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
“Would someone please put Star Wars out of its misery? It’s an ailing pop cultural mutant, unrecognisable from the chirpy fable that George Lucas revealed to the world in 1977.” – Kevin Maher, The Times
“The Mandalorian and Grogu” is currently tracking for a $85-100 million opening across the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend, again not the worst “Star Wars” opening but one of the weaker ones. The movie hits cinemas on Friday.
