Tag Disney

‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ – my honest review

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Disney Star Wars is in a sorry state – with most of their wounds self-inflicted through countless lightweight, woke and lore-breaking releases over the past decade. But it’s not as bad as some pundits constantly make out, as there were times when decent Star Wars moments have shone through within some of their less-than-average shows – such as the Baylan Skoll scenes in ‘Ahsoka’ and extensive parts of ‘Andor.’

I would rate ‘The Mandalorian’ Seasons One and Two as further examples of when Disney managed to get Star Wars just about right, but things would fall away sharply following the spin-off series ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ and this decline would continue into Season Three of ‘The Mandalorian.’

Which brings us around to ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ – a project that Disney played so safe with, that in Blackjack terms this would be the equivalent of standing on twelve.

This is a film made for kids – almost exclusively so. It is harmless and there is nothing in there that anyone could take offense from – unless weak writing and inconsistent pacing are what grinds your gears.

Personally, I found myself zoning out a lot throughout the movie – particularly during the second half – as it felt like I had seen it all before and was watching a re-run – but again, what I saw wasn’t necessarily ‘bad’ but bored me nonetheless. I am aware of other reviews claiming that this film plays out like three average episodes of what should have been Season Four strung together and repackaged into a theatrical-length release – and I would have to agree with those comments.

But let’s dive a little (spoiler-free) into the movie itself…

‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ opens with a scene that sets the story up, where the New Republic have sent the heroic duo on an assignment to arrest an Imperial Warlord. This sequence is okay; lots of action with some lighter moments thrown in – before the main body of the movie plays out featuring Hutts, Stormtroopers and some characters from other Star Wars shows – as well as Sigourney Weaver.

The plot moves along quickly throughout the first act of the film, where Mando and Grogu set out to return Jabba the Hutt’s son Rotta – who has been enslaved as a gladiator – back to his family in exchange for information critical to the New Republic. I was still engaged with the adventure at this point, although the feeling that I had seen it all before was beginning to creep in…

For me, as an adult viewer and long-time Star Wars fan, I felt that the film dropped away from around the halfway point; grinding to a near halt for a good twenty minutes just before the finale. As for the ending itself – it consisted of little more than huge robots, some fighting and a squadron of X-Wings.

I did say this was going to be an honest review, so I will highlight a few things without writing an essay – trying my best to keep it brief and hopefully avoid any spoilers.

Firstly, the overall plot was serviceable, in that there were few inconsistencies – again, this would be the filmmakers playing it safe. In this current Star Wars climate, I will take that as a small win – remembering how shows like ‘The Acolyte’ and ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ were riddled with plot holes so large that you could drive a truck through them.

Secondly, the special effects looked a little off to me – and at times I thought I was watching an episode of ‘The Thunderbirds’ or ‘Space 1999’ with ships and puppets shaking about. I found it to be funny more than anything else – but was this the studio trying to limit production costs?

Also, I do have to touch on some of the finer aspects of the writing. Whilst already saying that the screenplay did its job to a degree; the writers’ refusal to take any risks or unveil any bold new ideas – and instead coat their beloved main characters in plot armour – is precisely why Star Wars fans are tuning out in their thousands. This seems to be a dynamic that Disney are unwilling to shake.

Finally, I must give a special shout out to Dave Filoni and his cameo in the film as a character called Trapper Wolf – yes, that’s what he named himself! Disney Star Wars is in safe hands with this guy, right?

Filoni jokes aside, as I stated earlier, ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ was not a ‘bad’ film – but rather a ‘nothing’ film. For those who have been Star Wars fans for decades, this offering will be considered by most to be more Disney slop, and I can’t argue with them there – but it’s nowhere near the worst of what’s been served up in recent years.

I can only defend this below par movie on two fronts; the fact that it played it by the numbers and tried not to destroy any more Star Wars lore – and that kids would have loved the end product. Make no mistake; this is a children’s film – whether or not the producers intended it to be – and I will therefore mark it accordingly.

‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ gets five out of ten from me.

‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ is currently in cinemas. All screenshots courtesy of Disney and Lucasfilm.

‘Andor’ Season Two – It’s big, it’s ambitious…and it’s slow.

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The second season of Disney’s acclaimed Star Wars show has now concluded, and I must say it was one of the most visually-impressive productions I have ever seen. Some serious money had been thrown at this project – around three hundred million dollars (US) by all accounts – and this was evident judging by the enormous sets and state-of-the-art special effects.

Before I go any further, I should point out that there may be some ‘slight’ spoilers ahead, but I won’t give anything major away.

Whilst the show is named after Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, it features an ensemble cast with a lot of time allowed for these characters to develop and explore their own places within the Star Wars universe. At the helm of this series is showrunner Tony Gilroy, whose attention-to-detail and amazing vision is evident in every episode.

This season was laid out in a rather unique style, with four chapters containing three episodes each. There was a time jump of one year from one story arc to the next – for example, week one gave us episodes one to three, before the second week aired parts four to six – and was set one year later. Twelve episodes in total covered the four-year period leading up to the events of ‘Rogue One’.

The new season kicks off in style with Cassian stealing a prototype Imperial Tie Fighter from a military base, and immediately the size of the outrageous visual effects budget is obvious. However, once this explosive sequence had concluded, the pacing began to drag and what took place in the first three episodes could have been told within half of that screen time.

I’m not being overly critical here, as the plot is moving and things are happening. It’s just that it felt to me like we were spending too much time admiring the scenery – even though it was quite impressive – with characters having deep conversations back and forth and situations lingering far longer than what was necessary.

For example, Cassian spends most of the first two episodes with a rebel cell who ambush him when he drops off the stolen tie fighter at an arranged rendezvous point. This entire sequence could have – and should have – been cut from the show completely. In fact, the first chapter felt like I was watching the fifth day of a test cricket match destined to be a draw – the skill and technique were all there, but few players were troubling the scorers.

As the timeline of the season moved a year forward through episodes four to six, I felt that the pacing dropped even further. Again, whilst things were definitely in motion, the show spent too much time looking at itself in the mirror – for lack of a better term – when it needed to be pressing onward. Again, the aesthetics of the show and the sharpness of the dialogue are not being questioned here – it’s just that what happened over these three episodes (4-6) could have easily been compressed into two.

Where was the show most sluggish? Well, over the course of the first half of the season I would have to say that the wedding of Mon Mothma’s daughter was the worst offender. Whilst there were some good moments within – particularly the fate of Mon’s friend Tay Kolma – it took up way too much time and I don’t think that the erratic dancing scene worked as well as it should have. I’m sure bigger Star Wars fans than I would argue otherwise.

The narrative involving the insurgents on the planet Ghorman was another part of the show that was slow-building and a little tedious – although the payoff in episode eight ended up being exceptional. These local rebels had an axe to grind with the Empire – and with good reason – but I felt that there were too many ‘secret town meetings’ and on a personal note I’m not sure that modelling everything about them on the French Resistance was necessary.

The story arc of week three, being episodes seven to nine, was when ‘Andor’ really kicked into gear and rewarded its fan base with some truly brilliant storytelling and execution. Episode eight was as gripping as anything I have seen before in Star Wars, but by golly it took a while to get there!

I was hoping that this momentum would carry through to the final three episodes, and it did to a certain degree – with the action taking a backseat and more thrilling and psychological elements coming to the fore. The game of cat-and-mouse between the ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) and the Coruscant-based rebels was enthralling to say the least, and the fates of agent Dedra Meero and the elusive Luthen Rael reached satisfying conclusions that were consistent with the Star Wars narrative moving forward.

I should also add that the performances of both Denise Gough as the overly-ambitious Dedra and Stellan Skarsgard as the rebel spy/antiques dealer Luthen were outstanding across both seasons of ‘Andor’. Some Star Wars fans are claiming that Luthen Rael is by far the best character created in the Disney era to date, which is a fair call – but I personally would go with Baylan Skoll from ‘Ahsoka’.

A welcome addition to the show was Director Orson Krennic – played by Ben Mendelsohn – who was of course a main antagonist in ‘Rogue One‘. In fact, the inner-workings of the Galactic Empire were brilliantly unveiled during this season, and was the most in-depth exploration that Star Wars fans have seen to date.

Another returning character was K2SO, and we get to see his origin story during the last few episodes of the series. He delivered some great lines here, just as he did in ‘Rogue One‘.

I didn’t pick up on the casting change for Bail Organa right away either, as I was waiting for Jimmy Smits to appear and wondered at first who Benjamin Bratt’s character was supposed to be. I can assure you it only took a few minutes for it to click, and to be honest I thought Bratt did a pretty good job.

With the show featuring an extensive cast, I would be here all day if I wrote about every character and actor, so I will briefly add only a few more worthy mentions. Forest Whitaker returns as rebel outcast and extremist Saw Gerrera, Elizabeth Dulau stands out as Luthen’s assistant Kleya – with an enlarged role for this season, Kyle Soller is back as the weedy but sinister Syril Karn, and Anton Lesser portrays the cunning Major Partagaz.

The character development in this show is well above anything we have seen from Disney Star Wars, and the work here makes Rey, Finn and Poe from the sequel trilogy come across as cardboard cutouts. Mind you, it wouldn’t take much for that to happen.

The other outstanding attributes of ‘Andor’ are the visuals and art direction, which surpass even the Original Trilogy at times. As I mentioned earlier, a huge slice of the series’ budget must have been spent on special effects and physical sets. In all honesty, this would have to be one of the most eye-catching shows I have ever watched, with the attention-to-detail – right down to the pressing of buttons on control panels – being on a scale rarely seen these days.

However, I felt that these strengths fed directly into the moments when this show was at its weakest. By this I mean that the breathtaking settings and complex events taking place throughout the galaxy – often at the same time – were not easily whisked along by those in control. Instead, the narrative appeared stuck at times within certain scenes, and felt like it was lingering there far longer than was required and not propelling the story forward at a reasonable pace.

The first half of the season – comprising of episodes one to six – was painfully slow. This was a shame because there were brilliant moments taking place, but a lot of the effect was wasted when these scenes overstayed their welcome. Again, I refer specifically to Cassian’s run-in with the rebel crew during the first two episodes and the excessive drama surrounding the wedding of Mon Mothma’s daughter.

Quite simply, it took too many episodes to arrive at where the show needed to be – which is a fair criticism considering we already knew the fate of Cassian Andor before the series began, and all jeopardy concerning this character was off the board.

But I cannot dislike this show, no matter how much the pacing frustrated me. There are simply too many moments of brilliance contained within; whether it be the clever writing, the artistic and exceptional direction, or the aesthetics of this excellent production – right down to the smallest detail.

In a few months from now I might sit down and watch it all over again and see if I feel differently about it. I do recall enjoying the first season a lot more second time around, so perhaps the slow progression of the story might not bother me as much after another viewing.

I’m going to give this season a mark of eight out of ten, with the pacing issues costing it a perfect score.

‘Andor’ – Season Two is currently streaming on Disney Plus.

Photos and screenshots courtesy of Disney and Lucasfilm.

Disney’s ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ – A seventy-year-old classic!

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Released all the way back in 1954, this film is truly a cinematic masterpiece. I’m not comparing this to ‘Casablanca’, ‘The Godfather’ or even ‘The English Patient’, for what I refer to here is the ambition and vision that ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ projects – impressive even by today’s standards.

Of course, this is an adaptation of Jules Verne’s 1870 novel of the same name, which is quite an enjoyable read. The film does differ from the book in a number of ways – particularly the ending – but does remain fairly true to the overall narrative.

‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ is headlined by two legendary actors, with Kirk Douglas playing the harpooner Ned Land and James Mason starring as the mysterious Captain Nemo. The film was directed by the reliable Hollywood helmsman Richard Fleischer, and was produced by Walt Disney Productions.

The movie begins with Professor Aronnax, a famous scientist (played by Academy Award winning actor Paul Lukas) being recruited by the US Navy to assist them in hunting a sea monster that has been destroying vessels. Eventually the naval frigate Aronnax is travelling aboard finds the creature and is promptly rammed and sunk by an enemy that was not all that it appeared to be.

From this point, the film follows the adventures of the rogue submarine Nautilus, as told from the viewpoint of Professor Aronnax, his assistant Conseil, and fellow adventurer Ned Land. All three become ‘guests’ of Captain Nemo aboard his underwater ship as it carries out its mission in the deepest depths of the world’s oceans, whilst countless warships are hot on their tails.

Captain Nemo’s motivations are explored a little in this film, although the book does offer more in the way of his interesting background story. But for the most part, the movie keeps things on a more adventurous and entertaining course, with the special effects and underwater filming being decades ahead of its time. In fact, ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ won the Academy Award for best special effects and art direction, and it’s easy to see why.

Perhaps the most memorable scene in the movie is when the Nautilus is attacked by a giant squid. The battle takes place during the night and in the middle of a vicious storm, which makes the sequence even more terrifying.

We are also treated to a couple of musical numbers from Kirk Douglas during lighter moments in the film, with one of his sea shanties being sung to Esmeralda – Captain Nemo’s pet sea lion.

‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ is storytelling on an epic scale, much like many of the old Hollywood blockbusters from the golden age of cinema. It’s sad that they don’t make movies like this anymore, because with modern day CGI this story could easily be re-imagined into something special – and if produced correctly could earn millions of dollars.

Here’s how I think it should be done.

Firstly, a popular subcontinental actor would be cast as Nemo, for according to Verne’s original story this character is an exiled Indian prince named Dakkar. Then you would need some American star power, and three established Hollywood names could play Ned Land, Aronnax and Conseil. To top things off, I would have someone like Denis Villeneuve or Christopher Nolan as the director, and have the screenwriters keep the story as close to the original work as possible.

Yes, I am aware of what the wages bill alone would be, but surely it would clean up at the box office worldwide!

‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ is available on Disney Plus, and I’m not sure but it might be showing on Amazon Prime Video as well – but perhaps at an extra cost. It really is worth watching, especially if you haven’t seen it before or did so many years ago, and I’m sure you will be surprised as to how a film so old can still look so good.

Many remakes and reboots have come and gone – even as recently as last year with the series ‘Nautilus‘ –  but the original 1954 classic is still the best interpretation of Jules Verne’s masterpiece. With two of Hollywood’s greatest leading men in Kirk Douglas and James Mason gracing our screens and special effects that were a generation ahead of its time, Disney’s immortal tour-de-force is in a class of its own.

All images courtesy of Walt Disney Productions and Buena Vista Productions.