The Mandalorian and Grogu

Lucasfilm

We have now hit the “social media embargo” for The Mandalorian and Grogu after its big premiere last night, and at midnight ET, the internet was flooded with impressions from those lucky enough to attend.

An embargo like this means you are allowed to tweet your impressions, with some limitations, rather than publish full reviews, the kind that would be scored and thrown up on Rotten Tomatoes, so The Mandalorian and Grogu has no score yet.

How is it doing? What’s the vibe? I’ve read dozens of these so far, from normal critics to Star Wars superfans, and the reaction is generally mixed to positive, perhaps skewing more positive. Then again, social media impressions from early viewers often skew positive more generally.

The bad: Some are saying it’s dull and lifeless and that it does, in fact, just feel like an overly long episode of the show that did not need to be on the big screen. Here’s a sampling:

Jonathan Sim: “One of the weakest ‘Star Wars’ movies. An emotionless, predictable experience that doesn’t push Din Djarin anywhere interesting. Dull, unexciting fight scenes; just CGI monsters. Action figures mashed together. A long, colorless made-for-TV movie.”

Griffin Schiller: “THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU is...fine? An inoffensive, technically impressive spectacle that's kinda a snooze fest. Very much structured like an abridged season of the tv show which unfortunately plays like watching the cutscenes of a Star Wars video game instead of playing one.”

The good: Others are saying that it’s a lot of fun, thrilling, and that cute characters like Baby Yoda and Babu Frik steal the show. Here’s a sampling:

Christopher Gallardo: “#TheMandalorianAndGrogu is an energizing, action-packed adventure that any Star Wars fan can enjoy. All of the fight scenes and high-speed chases will keep you hooked. Pedro Pascal still nails it as Din Djarin, but it's Grogu (and ALL the puppets) will tug at your heartstrings.”

Junior Felix: “#TheMandalorianandgrogu is an action-packed intergalactic EPIC filled with jaw-dropping sequences that will leave any Star Wars fan ecstatic! I couldn't help but smile the entire film. I can't wait to watch it again. THIS IS THE WAY.”

Hunter Bolding: “The Mandalorian and Grogu is a major return to form for Star Wars. All the things that make Star Wars special are here: whimsy, adventure, weird monsters, action, heart, and rolling Hutts. The score is a beating heart. Star Wars fans should be thrilled by this.”

However, again, social media impressions do not translate into A) scored critic reviews, as something glowing may be less glowing when those full reviews are in and impressions from say, fan sites are no longer there, B) audience reviews, where often critics skew higher than audiences and C) box office, where at least so far, The Mandalorian and Grogu has been tracking below even Solo so far. So we’ll have to see how this all plays out. Still, this could certainly be worse.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.