I’m sure many of you reading this have joined the fervor and signed up for Disney Plus Streaming service. Disney is offering several of their classics as well as new content, such as Star Wars The Mandalorian. Created and written for Disney Plus by Jon Favreau and directed by a staff of five directors, including Bryce Dallas Howard from Jurassic World.
Recently I was invited to a special screening of The Mandalorian where they previewed the first three episodes. No spoilers here, but I will admit I had become disenchanted with the new Disney Star Wars offerings. To me, most of them rated from simply okay to pretty good. Many of the stories left me thinking “didn’t they do that already?” or “isn’t this just a redone story with new characters?” Perhaps not a popular opinion, but mine.
The first episode of The Mandalorian opened up in a pretty standard Star Wars way by quickly moving to an action scene featuring the new hero. This was no surprise. What did intrigued me was the addition of some new races and seeing some of the old ones in a new way.
Another thing that stood out for me was the ongoing story which kept you glued to your seat. They were not offering a weak story line with some really good special effects to cover it up. It was genuinely a good story. Though the special effects in this series, that’s right “series” as this is not a movie were outstanding. The world they created for this series was believable, beautiful and presented in a way that you felt like you were right there, standing with the Mandalorian watching him first hand.
The series also gives a look into a Mandalorian’s life. We get to learn a bit about their code and how each have their own stylized armor and fighting styles. Each warriors’ armor is custom made and makes a statement about the individual wearing it. Their weapons also vary from warrior to warrior and we see there are more Mandalorians than just Boba Fett, there is a whole race/tribe. Yes, I know we all knew that but until now he is the only one the average viewer knew about.
The series is well-written with comedy in appropriate areas, and the special effects and costumes were great. The characters are believable; making you want to cheer for the hero, jeer at the bad guys and even the occasional “awwww” at some cute things.
Again, no spoilers but I can already hear certain lines being quoted by fans in their everyday lives. Though, on a side note, it just occurred to me the famous “I got a bad feeling about this” line was nowhere to be heard. Well, at least that I noticed in the first three episodes.
I really enjoyed this series and I think that it alone may be a good enough reason to sign up for Disney Plus.
I give The Mandalorian 5 out of 5 stars and I can’t wait to see the rest of the episodes.
This has been another edition of Reptile’s Random Review.
