Random Review: The Mandolorian & Grogu | Original Geek

Is The Mandalorian & Grogu a true Star Wars movie event… or does it feel more like a Disney+ episode with an IMAX upgrade?

On this Original Geek Random Review, Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw roll the dice and review The Mandalorian & Grogu, breaking down the theatrical experience, the Disney+ problem, Grogu’s big Force payoff, the Hutt storyline, the pacing, and whether this story raised the stakes enough to justify the jump from streaming to the big screen.

We liked the movie. We loved seeing Star Wars back in theaters. But the big question remains:

Was this really a movie — or just Season 4 in disguise?

Plus, we get into the “member berries,” the Hutt twins, the theater vs. streaming debate, and why Mando and Grogu may be trapped in the weirdest box office situation in the galaxy. 

Watch, listen, argue with us, and tell us what you think.

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Original Geek Podcast — where Gen X nostalgia, geek culture, and questionable dice rolls collide.

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Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw.

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Transcript

Steve (00:05)
All right, welcome to the original geek random review. We set the topic, the dice set the direction, we know what we're reviewing, we just don't know how. Hi, I'm Steve Scarfell.

Jeff Shaw (00:15)
And I'm Jeff Shaw, and tonight we're gonna random review the Mandalorian and Grogu movie, which has been out for a little bit, and I know it had a bit of a second week slump, but we're here to help give it the original geek bump. Go out, see it. That's right. That's what's what we do.

Steve (00:34)
That's the kind of clout we have. We're gonna take a Star Wars property and bring it right out of the basement.

Jeff Shaw (00:44)
It's how we do. I I have to say, like, do you think cause

Steve (00:46)
That's too crazy. This was a

Jeff Shaw (00:50)
I you know, when we you know, when they're comparing these box office numbers, and I know this isn't part of the random review, but I do wonder, you know, when someone thinks, okay, it's a Star Wars movie, I pay for Disney Plus, eventually it's gonna be there, I'm not gonna have to pay for it. Like, I feel like comparing today's box office numbers with

movies in the past where you don't know when that's coming out on streaming or when that's gonna be available. So you go and you see it. But when you know like, yeah, I'm just gonna wait and it'll be on that thing I pay for every month.

Steve (01:29)
I think I think this is a weird unique cross section for that, right? Because

There are Star Wars movies that come out just as movies and then they make their way to Disney Plus. This one started on Disney Plus. It's like trying to reverse engineer the the process. And I think that could be hurting them because I think you're right. People are like, well, started on Disney Plus. They did a movie release, which is great, but it's like you said, it's eventually gonna come back to Disney Plus. So we saw it in the theater because we really wanted to.

Jeff Shaw (02:00)
Yeah.

Steve (02:01)
And and honestly to prepare for this, we wanted to make sure we had a great viewing experience and we did. It was awesome. but it is hard to to justify. I mean, let's be honest, it's fifteen, twenty bucks a ticket, it's ten, fifteen bucks per person to get, you know, popcorn and soda. And so you're looking at thirty to thirty five dollars per person to go to a movie that you know in not a very long period of time will have will be on your screen at home for the twelve bucks a month that you spend.

Jeff Shaw (02:08)
Yeah.

Steve (02:31)
And then you can watch it whenever you want. You can pause it and go pee. You can which I always have to do. You know what I mean? So I I think you're right. I think it's just a weird you can't you can't compare it to like Disclosure Day or Project Tale Mary, which never had a a TV presence and will eventually stream. I think it actually is already streaming, but

Jeff Shaw (02:52)
And I think what helps

convince me to go is opening weekend I saw it in three D, which I don't have the ability to do at home. So it had it had a different experience in the three D effect was awesome. and then the two of us saw it in IMAX.

And that was amazing. The sound, like I don't have that kind of sound at home and that size screen at home. So the the spectacle of it in both three D and IMAX can't do that at home. And so I thought the experience is seeing it in the theater was fantastic and plus I want more Star Wars in the theater and that's not gonna happen if we don't go and see it in the theater and pay pay for it with our dollars. So

Steve (03:14)
Yeah.

Yeah.

I I I wanna jump into the review, but I will say I think that was this one I think is more on them because I think they tried something new with the marketing. And I think it just wasn't I won't call it a failure 'cause it's a great movie. But I think the marketing might have been lackluster because of everything that we just talked about. It's hard to justify.

'Cause I already pay to go pay again for a property that started. I I think the legacy of the property pulls it down a little bit. I also I don't know why. I've heard that this thing didn't get the best reviews. which is which is hard for me to hear. And and I can't even cite a source. I saw a couple articles right after it came out that it was kind of people were basically saying what we're saying is like it was

It should have just been a t an episode of the TV show or a season of the T V show. It shouldn't have been a standalone movie. So all right. you gotta roll for me. Goodness, you think I'd remember that.

Jeff Shaw (04:42)
I got a role for you.

19. Successful Charisma. The Palace Droid Brawl. Grogu leads the charge against the palace guards. A crowd-pleasing riot. The absolute highlight of general audiences was the final palace break-in. Watching Grogu use the force to clear a past the massive wave of droid security forces, while Din Jaren dueled Embo was an absolute

Steve (05:15)
So I'm assuming the s this is the scene where they break him out. because it's not quite the end of the movie. There's more at h at the huts. So I don't know, is this the breaking out of the this is the huts? Okay. So and and

Jeff Shaw (05:22)
Yes.

The Huts, yes, this is from the yes.

Steve (05:40)
By the way, they're both great scenes, which is why I'm sort of like, hey, which one are we talking about? But that last scene at the Huts, back after they realize and spoilers, the reveal here that they were it's not really a spoiler if you get screwed by the huts. It's sort of an expectation. but that Mando got screwed by the Huts, so he's back there to to rescue is it Dinjarin? Is that his name? Yeah. it was great. I mean

Jeff Shaw (05:44)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Steve (06:10)
I will say it was a little frustrating throughout the episode. I see episode throughout the movie. that Grogu didn't use the force very often. Not as much as I was expecting. Like in the in the first two seasons of the show, he started to grow in power more and more. But in the movie for the first two thirds, he's he does a few things.

He's ne it's not like he never does it, but you expect more because he's been growing in power. And then they see it at the end. So I think the payoff, I think they built in a real frustration early on to make that payoff feel even better. because it it was it was a great scene and to see him tossing droids and he actually saves is does he save he saves one of them with their dropping and he just stops the drop.

Jeff Shaw (07:03)
Yeah, yeah, that's he saves Rhoda. Yeah.

Steve (07:08)
Yeah. Yeah.

So it was great. I think it was an awesome scene.

Jeff Shaw (07:11)
Yeah, I thought that that the the saving of of Rada and the defeat of the Huts, that was great. The the the the duel with that bounty hunter and it's because I'm not watching the cartoons.

I think this was a car he's in a Emboo is in a cartoon. But I thought of it and I I d haven't gone back and watched it. But Leia, when she was disguised as a bounty hunter to free Han Solo from the Carbonite, kind of looked similar, had that big hat. And I thought I that's what I thought the callback was. And I you know, in a similar way that the callback that I loved

Steve (07:53)
Yeah.

Jeff Shaw (08:03)
Absolutely loved the gladiator scene when they're all fighting in the gladiator pit and all the other creatures come out. And it wasn't until the creatures came out that I noticed that the round and then the shapes on the floor match the chess game from when R2D2 and Chewbacca played that chess game on the Millennium Falcon in the very first Star Wars. And so for me

Steve (08:10)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Yes.

Jeff Shaw (08:32)
I was eating member berries throughout that thing and like Member Member Chubaca And I loved I loved it. I loved the memberberries in the Mandalorian and Grogu. I was ready for it. and memberberries too for the snow sh scene that we end open up with the the stormtroopers in white and all the at atts, like very reminiscent of Hoth, right? Yeah.

Steve (08:34)
Yeah.

It was great.

Yes. A vampire. Yeah.

Yeah, I will say I think is it Embu the Embu is that is Embo. The bounty hunter. I think he's in season one. He's either in season one of Mandalorian and Grogu or he's in the Book of Boba Fett. Because that character did make an appearance. Now that I say that, I think it was the Book of Boba Fett.

Jeff Shaw (09:05)
Is the bounty hunter, yeah.

Okay.

Steve (09:23)
Because Boba Fett shows up at almost a Tatooine style Desert Planet, and he's there to help. And these guys, this guy comes out and they have a duel. So it's the same, I think it's the same character. If it's not, if it's not exactly the same guy, then it's another bounty hunter just like him. But that character was definitely in Book of Boba Fett. all right. You ready? What do we got here? I got a low three again. Three, failed fortitude. The Nal Hutta Slump.

Jeff Shaw (09:44)
Alright, roll for me.

Steve (09:53)
The extended underworld negotiations with the Hut Twins. Plot heavy dragging. Audiences felt the middle section of the film, this is almost like the last one we did, the middle section of the film suffered from a massive pacing dip. The lengthy back then back and forth contract negotiations with Jabba's successors felt far too bureaucratic for what was marketed as a high octane space adventure.

Jeff Shaw (10:17)
You know what's funny about this? First of all, I completely disagree. I I ne I didn't think that this was bad at all or took too long. the hot twins. I was worried about them inbreeding because they were a little too close. I thought they were they were maybe Siamese twins, and then we had this over the side shot with them yin-yanging kind of head to butt kind of thing or crotch. like

Steve (10:32)
They were

Yeah.

It was definitely a an an incestuous moment.

Jeff Shaw (10:46)
Okay, you two. it's funny because so when I saw it opening weekend in 3D, I saw it with my mom and my aunt Barbara. And my mom was like, it's just too much action. It was like it wasn't enough dialogue and character building, and like that's what I was thinking. Like, okay, so

Steve (11:09)
Your mom knows she went to see a Star Wars movie, right?

Jeff Shaw (11:16)
I'm gonna say since what I heard so I didn't feel that and then yeah, 'cause my mom would have been like, you know, when they were just kind of chit chatting about the negotiations, I love that part. The no

Steve (11:31)
So this is like exactly this is

a question for your mom and she'd be like, No, it was awesome.

Jeff Shaw (11:36)
Like that's the best part. I didn't I did not feel at all like there was any time any c any character dialogue was overweighty or overlong. in fact I felt after talking to my mom that maybe the opposite, that maybe they could have used a little more dialogue, a little more storytelling for those who may have gone to it.

Mom thinking, man, I don't know who these characters are because she never watched the TV show. And like, so she was lost and wanted to know more. Like, yeah, you don't okay. But any case, so I disagree. I didn't find it plot heavy. I didn't find it draggy. and if anything, I would say we could have used.

Steve (12:16)
She she knows this isn't like the Mandalorian diaries, right?

Jeff Shaw (12:34)
More of an explanation as to why the new republic would think working with the huts. Like, why were they bamboozled? Because they were like, We didn't we wanted you to be friendly with them. How dare you just capture the the card? How dare you go to the ace of spades or whatever he was? Like, how dare you do that and bypass the huts? We need the huts. Like, really?

Steve (12:47)
We're trying to work with them.

yeah.

Yeah.

Jeff Shaw (13:04)
Like why? Why did you actually think that the Huts were gonna be straight dealing with you?

Steve (13:12)
Well, and it's funny because I think a lot of what you're talking about is the reasons why people were not upset with it, but just it felt episodic. It wasn't like to me the stakes were minimal. It was Mando going on a hey, he comes back from a run. We see that run complete successfully, and he's awesome at the beginning of the show.

He goes back to the new republic, they give him the ace of spades like you're talking about. But it's just like another it's just like another bounty. go collect this bounty. And it becomes a bigger story because it becomes a more difficult path, but it didn't feel like there was any huge stakes set up at the beginning. And there were no huge resolutions at the end. Do we meet some interesting characters? Does he save the guy at the end? The the the

Jabba's son who turns out to be a good guy. Like, yep, we see all that. And a muscular hut was very off weird to see. He was jacked. but it's like it just felt like it could have been an episode. Like, are they gonna make another one where we just see yet another bounty get collected? It seems like there were no raising of the stakes.

Jeff Shaw (14:15)
Jacked.

Yeah, I think so yeah, so I guess if we're looking failed fortitude, that would be the real failed fortitude that yeah, I think in their desperation to make it a standalone property, that they missed an opportunity to connect it to the next step. So I think cause that's what I read is that this is initially supposed to be season four's plot and you would have seen how it connected to Ashoka.

to General Thrawn to the wider plot. But I and then they eliminated all those things that would have made it seem like, we're just giving you some background for the we're just setting the stage for the next thing. So

Steve (15:18)
Well, it's too bad. I mean, listen, go see it. It's still a great movie. Typically when we're doing these reviews, we're doing it because we like the properties that we're talking about. Right. We t we try to recognize We talk ab

Jeff Shaw (15:29)
Yeah, it's not our fault that Steve rolled a three. He coulda rolled a critical hit and we woulda talked

something else. How dare he?

Steve (15:37)
Yes. The the the

demise of the twins would have been awesome to talk about. But but we talk about if we find failings with these movies, we're gonna be honest with you guys. I'm gonna tell you, yeah, I mean it's a good movie. This part was a little weak, but but that to me is what makes this more fun. So I hope you guys find it fun. keep listening, keep watching, keep sharing, keep liking.

Jeff Shaw (15:41)
Yeah.

Steve (16:01)
I keep threatening to do some sort of a giveaway. We're gonna have to do one of those these days and and get people involved. and and I haven't said this in a while, but if you guys have something you want us to review that we haven't talked about, send us a note. Original original geek podcast at gmail dot com.

Jeff Shaw (16:18)
Yeah.

And get the merch. It's Father's Day coming up. Got some good merch. Got the bump bunker geek. I I went with Star Wars, which I know we don't have any merch for, but there's some other great merch. in the last random review for Spider Noir, I was wearing our Stephen King shirt. So if you got a Stephen King fan dad, get that Stephen King shirt. I got it right here actually, so I can

Steve (16:22)
Merge bunker geek.

No Star Wars mm.

Yes.

There

we go.

Jeff Shaw (16:48)
Show it off. Father's Day coming up. Get the King of Nightmares Original Geek shirt for it.

Steve (16:57)
Well

and I don't have any mock ups to share at the moment, but if you're a fan and we will talk about it at future episodes of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, we have some Dungeon Crawler Carl T shirts, inspired by the the books. So go out and check new stuff. and then come back and hang up with us for the next episode.

Jeff Shaw (17:06)
Yeah.

In fact.

Yeah.

C O G's.