The Mandalorian and Grogu (now on Disney+) is a feature-length adventure continuing the ongoing saga that began with Disney+’s hit TV series The Baby Yoda Reaction Shot Hour. Er, I mean, The Mandalorian. The movie confused audiences in two ways: One, it’s a standalone adventure, and fans populated the Befuddlement Zone, unsure of whether that’s a point of praise (hooray, we don’t need to think about how it fits into the grand Star Wars narrative!) or criticism (boo, it doesn’t indulge any obvious implications for the grand Star Wars narrative!). And two, it was the lowest-grossing movie in the franchise yet, taking in a (relatively) so-so $345 million worldwide, a level of (relative) indifference that seemed unthinkable five years ago, when the Baby Yoda Zeitgeist-o-Meter was at DEFCON KABLOOEY. The first theatrical Star Wars release in seven years, Mando/Grogu sought to remove the bad taste left in our mouths by the cruddy, cruddy The Rise of Skywalker — now let’s see if it succeeds. 

The Gist: Get a load of the nifty oner in the opening sequence: The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal, with Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder going underappreciated as stunt doubles), or Din Djarin if you’re reading his driver’s license, summarily zapping and whapping a small cavalcade of Imperial troopers and assorted goons inside an AT-AT walker — with tiny sidekick/adopted son Grogu providing light combat support and heavy comic relief. They’re back! In action! And now they’re independently contracted by the New Republic, under the supervision of Col. Ward (Sigourney Weaver in a nothingburger role), to take out baddies. It’s a living.

Their next gig is to rescue Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta (voice of Jeremy Allen White), from the warlord Janu Coin (Jonny Coyne). This prompts Mando and Grogu to tangle/consult with Jabba’s creepy twin siblings, a four-armed monkeyish informant voiced by Martin Scorsese (yes, that Martin Scorsese), bounty hunter Embo (from the Clone Wars series) and, crucial for inciting giggles, four of those wee gibber-spouting puppety guys, the Anzellans. Our hero duo also fight nigh-countless monsters, but the jury’s still out whether that’s tougher than listening to their new buddy Rotta whine all the time: “You know how hard it is to be your own man when your father is Jabba the Hutt?” Maybe he and Meadow Soprano should form a support group. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Token reminder that the Lone Wolf and Cub films established the Mando/Grogu dynamic. Also, stop-motion-animation sequences here are by Star Wars franchise alum Phil Tippett, and his robots here nod toward his crazy passion project movie Mad God.  

Performance Worth Watching Hearing: The film’s greatest technical accomplishment is the impressively diverse and rousing musical score by Ludwig Goransson.

Our Take: The Baby Yoda Factor™ pushes Mando/Grogu beyond passable mediocrity. The much-discussed dialogue-free Grogu solo adventure sequence, which plays like a short film (or episode of the series) dropped into the middle of the story, is the clear highlight of a movie that’s otherwise an arrangement of skirmishes with a variety of fugly monsters. Director Jon Favreau knows that Mando action and Grogu adorbsness are the draw, and he delivers with baseline-to-very-good competency, stringing together a collection of set pieces into a loose plot, with just enough Grogu character development (L’il guy’s becoming independent! Awww!) to make things interesting. 

Don’t take any of that as faint praise. Mando/Grogu is consistently enjoyable, a melange of endearing practical effects and shrugworthy CGI. It broadens the scale of the show by a few widescreen increments, and almost wholly ignores series continuity and the greater SW mythos, which is frankly refreshing. The film functions well within modest ambitions, and while that can be underwhelming within the context of Star Wars’ pop-cultural standing, maybe it’s time we accept that we’re here to be entertained, not to overthink ourselves into not liking things. For the life of me, I don’t understand how anyone can resist the appeal of Baby Yoda, who’s a sleeve of cookies in the cupboard of the Star Wars canon. And who doesn’t like cookies?

Our Call: Reminder to critics and haters: NO DISINTEGRATIONS. The Mandalorian and Grogu is perfectly fine entertainment. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.