Disney's Star Wars Struggles, Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 Trailer, and New Musical Direction for Upcoming Film

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Disney's Star Wars Struggles, Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 Trailer, and New Musical Direction for Upcoming Film
Photo: Gizmodo
tech· A press review of 5 outlets
  1. With a little more depth and intrigue, The Mandalorian and Grogu probably could have made for a solid season of television. But after years of struggling to get Star Wars films in theaters, Disney seems to be using this as an experiment in figuring out what kinds of movies viewers actually want to see. Instead, The Mandalorian and Grogu is a reminder of how much stronger these side stories can be when given a little more room to breathe.

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    Gizmodo

    Tiny moments of potential like that are sprinkled throughout The Mandalorian and Grogu. Every action scene is incredibly fun, giving us all manner of weird, Star Wars-inspired battles and destruction. (A scene with Pascal out of the mask, in the water, versus a huge dragon is a particular standout.) Rotta the Hutt, who becomes crucial to the plot, ends up being much more relatable than any Hutt we’ve ever seen. The design of the creatures, new and old, is as good as any Star Wars movie in recent memory. And Grogu is wonderful, as always. His interactions, especially with the tiny Anzellans, are some of the best scenes in the movie.

    CNET

    That said, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu isn't an event the way Star Wars movies used to be. If you ask me, I think you'd be better off waiting for it to hit Disney Plus -- because this feels like nothing more than a really long bottle episode of The Mandalorian.

    Ars Technica

    Review: The Mandalorian and Grogu is ... fine The plot is predictable, the fight scenes are meh, but you can't beat the charm of that little green Grogu.

    Engadget

    Here's how it'll work, according to the Fortnite team: "Created with Fairview Portals and Beyond Creative, you'll be recruited as a Deputy to collect bounties, defend the city from waves of enemies, and find Grogu. Once you've spent 20 minutes exploring Nevarro you'll unlock the exclusive Mandalorian Sanctuary loading screen!" The Mandalorian and Grogu follows the events of the Disney+ series, and brings back Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin. It also stars Sigourney Weaver as the new character Colonel Ward and Jeremy Allen White as Jabba the Hutt's son, Rotta.

  2. Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 trailer shows plenty of live-action Toph Season two arrives on June 25.

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    Gizmodo

    ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Live-Action Series Drops Season 2 Trailer The Netflix series will return on June 25.

  3. Ludwig Göransson's score is an interesting change-up, bringing some '80s-style synth and electro chords to the mix, enhancing the street-level scenes and giving the movie a Blade Runner-esque vibe. But as much as I appreciated the creative choice, I had to remind myself multiple times that I was watching a Star Wars movie because there was very little actual war transpiring on screen.

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    Gizmodo

    One thing all the best scenes, and even some of the worst scenes, have in common is that they’re set to a new score by Ludwig Göransson. Göransson (who has won Oscars for Black Panther, Oppenheimer, and most recently Sinners) has been with The Mandalorian since the beginning. So it’s not a surprise to hear his music and famous themes in the film. What is a surprise is that beyond those familiar riffs, the rest of the movie has a strong electronic, techno vibe to it. Very sci-fi. Very groovy. It reminded us of Daft Punk’s score to Tron: Legacy, but dialed back a few notches. It’s wonderful, gives the movie a completely unique feel, and is by far the best thing about the entire experience.

From the margins

3 details only one outlet reported

Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.

  1. 01 Gizmodo

    Every Theatrical ‘Star Wars’ Movie, Ranked With 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' now in theaters, we decide to put it up against the rest of the series.

  2. 02 CNET

    That's it; that's the story. If you'd rather avoid further story details, I advise you to turn back now -- I'm about to plummet my X-wing starfighter into this Death Star, or something.

  3. 03 Engadget

    The Mandalorian and Grogu hits theaters on Friday, and Fortnite is hosting a special Watch Party Island this Tuesday so players can get in on the hype a bit early. After completing a few activities, Fortnite players will get access to 10 minutes of the movie, and hear a message from director Jon Favreau. The Mandalorian and Grogu Watch Party Island opens at 10AM ET on May 19.

Assembled from 3 corroborated claims drawn from 5 independent outlets. Every passage above is taken verbatim — Dorothy doesn't paraphrase or summarize.

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Coverage by Perspective

Consumer
6
Enterprise
1
Culture
14

Source Similarity

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Sources (5)

  • gizmodo
  • verge
  • cnet
  • arstechnica
  • engadget

Original Articles (21)

Culture Fine, Let’s Talk About ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Box Office — Gizmodo
Culture Every Theatrical ‘Star Wars’ Movie, Ranked — Gizmodo
Culture Open Channel: Tell Us Your ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Thoughts — Gizmodo
Culture ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Is Missing 2 Major Characters—Jon Favreau Explains Why — Gizmodo
Enterprise Review: The Mandalorian and Grogu is ... fine — Ars Technica
Culture ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Earns Less Than ‘Solo’ on Day 1 of Theatrical Release — Gizmodo
Consumer The Mandalorian and Grogu is a lazy attempt at bringing TV to the big screen — Engadget
Culture All the Questions We Have After ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ — Gizmodo
Culture Everything to Know About Disney’s Huge New Millennium Falcon Ride Update — Gizmodo
Consumer Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 trailer shows plenty of live-action Toph — Engadget
Culture ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Live-Action Series Drops Season 2 Trailer — Gizmodo
Culture ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Is Not the Way for ‘Star Wars’ — Gizmodo
Consumer 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' Review: Not the Star Wars Epic You're Looking For — CNET
Consumer The Mandalorian and Grogu should have been a season of TV — The Verge
Consumer Fortnite players get a 10-minute sneak peek of The Mandalorian and Grogu on May 19 — Engadget
Culture Dave Filoni Teases His Plan for the Future of ‘Star Wars’ — Gizmodo
Culture Everything to Remember Before ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ — Gizmodo
Culture The First Reactions to ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Are Here — Gizmodo
Consumer 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' Will Hit Disney Plus in June — CNET
Culture ‘Ahsoka’ Season 2 Won’t Arrive Until 2027 — Gizmodo
Culture Here’s What ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Is Actually About — Gizmodo