I took my daughter to see The Mandalorian & Grogu. She’s 6 years old, so I figured it would be a great way to give her her own personal Star Wars experience. What I mean is, this would be her first original Star Wars thing she saw in theaters.

I’ve taken her to see The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith during their theatrical re-releases. She enjoyed them as much as a kid her age could. She can actually talk about Darth Vader, lightsabers, and things like that, so clearly something sticks.

However, with Mando & Grogu, she was only really aware of “Baby Yoda” because it had been on in the background while I watched it with the family. Beyond that, she didn’t know anything else, nor did she really care. And honestly, that became very clear during the two-hour movie. She liked bits and pieces , and when I say bits and pieces, I mean she would point out goofy characters here and there, but in the end, she just didn’t care for it.

She hasn’t talked about it since. We even went to Target afterward and she had zero interest in the toys. To me, that speaks volumes about the weakness of Mando & Grogu.

Yes, The Mandalorian series essentially kick-started the heart of Star Wars again for a lot of people, but it’s clearly becoming a passing ship. The movie looked visually like Star Wars, but the story felt like three TV episodes slammed together. There were even obvious cutoff points where each “episode” seemed to end.

My biggest issue was that there really wasn’t much of a point to the story. The Mandalorian just moved from scene to scene without any real high stakes. Even his compassion for Stinky felt strangely misplaced.

But this isn’t really a review of The Mandalorian & Grogu. It’s more of a quick piece about the direction of Star Wars itself.

Honestly, I think Disney released this movie as more of a placeholder  something to keep Star Wars in the forefront of our minds and keep fans somewhat satisfied until Star Wars: Starfighter arrives. That’s going to be the real test. The concept of Starfighter sounds incredible, and I think it could do very well, especially with  attached to it.

But to me, Star Wars is lightsabers. Star Wars is Jedi versus Sith.

When you take that away, what you’re often left with is just generic science fiction.

The idea that the Star Wars universe is massive, expanding, and filled with different stories is nothing new. It’s been doing that since the Expanded Universe days. But in the end, this aging fanboy still wants the Force, lightsabers, good versus evil, and truly high stakes.

Honestly?

I enjoyed Solo more.