Released alongside the new film, LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian is a 50-minute animated special that delivers a comedic recap of Din Djarin’s journey, including plenty of cameos from the original cast of the series.
The Review contains spoilers. While we believe you can read it all without worrying about spoilers, we placed a note below to mark where we discuss the story elements in more detail.
It’s a good day today for Star Wars fans
September 2nd is a big day for the Mando fans out there! Not only does The Mandalorian and Grogu premiere on Disney+, but we also get some exciting new content along the film.
We saw the release of The Official Podcast to Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (alas, missing from the streaming platform in some territories) and the much-anticipated LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian, written by Michael Price and directed by Chris Buckley of LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild The Galaxy fame.
It has been well over two decades since we got our first official LEGO Star Wars animated short and by now we all know what to expect from them – lots of wacky, self-aware humor, tons of parody, easter eggs and deep-cut inside jokes.
That’s exactly the recipe that keeps the LEGO Star Wars cartoons and games so popular with both kids and lifelong hardcore fans – they’re fun and accessible, yet pay homage to the originals and demonstrate that the creators are passionate about what they’re doing and have done their homework when it comes to both LEGO and Star Wars.
A Perfect Series Recap for Casual Viewers
LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian is no different in this aspect. It has the campy charm we’ve all come to expect from the LEGO Star Wars specials and serves as the best possible recap of the Mando and Grogu adventures all the way from the very first episode to the epic Season Four finale.
In other words, if you’re about to watch The Mandalorian and Grogu with a bunch of casual viewers who need to refresh their memories of the events from the series, do not go to YouTube for that, just have some light-hearted fun with this almost 50 minute special.
The Returning Voice Cast
And boy, are you in for a treat – almost the entire main cast of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett is back to reprise their roles!
With the exception of the star talents of Pedro Pascal and Werner Herzog, and of course the late Carl Weathers, the gang is back together.
You’ll have the pleasure of hearing Steve Blum, Bill Burr Bill Burr Migs Mayfeld, Rosario Dawson, Giancarlo Esposito, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Temuera Morrison Temuera, Nick Nolte, Taika Waititi, Timothy Olyphant Timothy, David Pasquesi, Katee Sackhoff and Amy Sedaris, joined by Carl Lumbly as Greef Karga, Gavin Hammon as Sun Djarin and Flula Brog as The Client.
The next portion of the article contains story and plot spoilers mixed with my analysis and thoughts.
The Story: A Surprise Party on Tatooine
Mando and Grogu land on Tatooine, crashing on poor old Bobbajo. It was so neat to see a cameo from the storyteller from The Force Awakens!
Din and The Child are here for a meeting with a (not-so-)mysterious contact. Soon it turns out to be nonother than mechanic extraordinaire and Grogu’s once babysitter Peli Motto.
And surprise – the new mission is… a surprise party! For someone like the stoic Mandalorian bounty hunter this seems more difficult to stand than chasing scum and villainy around the galaxy, but all of his friends and allies have gathered to honor him and thank him for everything he has done for them and the galaxy, so… how could he refuse?
The party soon turns into swapping of stories and Peli Motto gives us her colorful version of the events from Season One of The Mandalorian, and we learn lots of useful lore, such as the fact that Arvala 7 is much classier than the other six Arvalas, and that The Client and The Mandalorian share a first name – The.
My personal favorite from this segment was the LEGO interpretation of Werner Herzog’s character and his very Werner Herzog way of expressing himself.
Then Migs Mayfeld takes the stage and narrates his fast forward version of Season 2, hilariously messing up Cobb Vanth’s name And seeing Mando wearing a chef’s hat feels like a direct nod to Jon Favreau and his passion for cooking.
Enter the newly risen daimyo Boba Fett, fanfares and all. His Twi’lek majordomo fills us in on what happens in The Book of Boba Fett and we get to see how Luke parts with Grogu, hoping to do better with his next student (que in Kylo Ren’s theme in the background!).
Bo Katan takes on the baton and retells The Mandalorian Season Three and it is confirmed that her LEGO version needs to switch hair for helmet before battle.
The Battle with Dorian Shard
Finally Zeb appears and he is just about to dive in on The Mandalorian and Grogu events when the story is rudely interrupted by some pesky space pirates and the surprise party turns into a battle party to push back the invaders, who are led by Gorian Shard.
No, scratch that.
It’s Dorian Shard, completely different character, and a nephew of the abovementioned plant-like pirate captain.
Grogu uses the Force and constructs a solution using the LEGO parts of some iconic ships and vehicles (Anakin’s podracer, Chewie’s AT-ST and others have somehow found their way to Peli’s garage).
Then there’s some pew pew pew, all ends well and the credits roll over some stylized LEGO art which imitates the concept art backgrounds from the Mando ending credits.
Final Thoughts
LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian is mostly a retelling of the iconic series and that makes it a bit predictable.
The animation is yet again provided by the guys at Atomic Cartoons and doesn’t differ from other recent LEGO specials and does its best to emulate glorious detail and the stop-motion-like feel of the LEGO movies.
Overall, it is not as wild and crazy as some of the other LEGO Star Wars specials out there, but it is still a nice little addition to the Disney+ catalogue and a fun treat for the fans.
