The TV spin-off The Mandalorian has proved to be one of the most popular Star Wars properties in recent memory – but unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to have carried over to the series’ new big-screen iteration.

Later this week, the new film The Mandalorian And Grogu will hit cinemas, with critics who’ve already seen the film – which stars Pedro Pascal alongside new additions Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White – not exactly enamoured with the new addition to the Star Wars lore.

More scathing reviews for the film have branded it “dull”, “average” and not worthy of the Star Wars moniker, while even the more glowing takes have acknowledged its issues.

Here’s a selection of what’s been said about The Mandalorian And Grogu so far…

“[The Mandalorian And Grogu] makes the magic of A New Hope seem far, far away […] At the end of the day, TM&G [The Mandalorian And Grogu] is what it is, and the fanbase will show up for it, much like they did last time. But for how much longer?”

“[A] sorry, sclerotic effort, a farcically weak story wheezing from its TV streaming existence into the multiplex and drooling out bits of fanboy lore along the way […] fold the companies, cancel the forthcoming movies and close the theme park. You wouldn’t leave a dying dog like this. But that’s what Star Wars has become. Putting it down would be a mercy killing.”

“It looks, sounds and feels like a Star Wars movie. And yet, it still feels stubbornly small in its relatively inconsequential storyline and themes. It’s hard to imagine anyone experiencing this as their first Star Wars film and getting hooked for life as those who saw the original trilogy in theatres did.”

“There’s not a whiff of effort here. As a mid-season arc for the character of ‘Pedro Pascal’s sultry voice inside a metal bucket’ and his tiny, puppet son, this might have been adequate, if uninspired. As a so-called feature film event, blown up to Imax with Sigourney Weaver roped in to deliver a few lines, it’s the dullest and most inconsequential Star Wars film ever made.”

“It’s a curate’s egg of a film, and its utterly scrambled quality control may be best summed up by a second-act shot of Grogu, Pascal and Rotta lined up, spying over the crest of a sand dune. One alien looks alive and delightful, the other looks like a giant computer-generated bullfrog, and then there’s Pascal with a shiny bucket on his head. When Disney paid George Lucas $4bn for Star Wars in 2012, I’m not sure either side was dreaming of this.”

“I found The Mandalorian And Grogu to be fun in a slightly flat way. But because the movie has so little pretence, it’s basically an invitation to wallow in the lite Star Wars nostalgia that’s there in every frame.”

“The film is watchable and barrels along capably enough, but perhaps there isn’t enough of the humanity, humour and extravagant space melodrama which has made and continues to make Star Wars lovable.”

“The first Star Wars film in nearly a decade doesn’t shake up the formula: instead, it’s a lively if inessential extended episode of the series. But Mando remains cool, and Grogu remains cute.”

“The dialogue is pretty rudimentary – not quite first-draft placeholder piffle but could do with punching-up. There are funny moments […] but you need a dozen moments like that in a two-hour-plus romp, not a handful. That said, you come for the adventure not the sparkling wit and that, at least, is almost constant.”

“Inessential and inoffensive, frequently adorable and fun for the whole family, Jon Favreau’s film feels like three good-enough TV episodes smushed together. If that sounds pleasing to you as a movie-goer and a Star Wars fan, The Mandalorian And Grogu will satisfy. But if you’re hoping for something a bit more ambitious, the film’s generic soul will likely just keep chipping away at the franchise’s up-and-down goodwill.”

“The Mandalorian And Grogu [is] a movie, a hoped-for franchise revival, a fourth season of sorts and an affable throwback. But it’s never quite riveting enough as canon or fodder to supplant anyone’s memories of (insert favourite Star Wars film here).”

“[Ludwig Goransson’ score is] perhaps the only element of the film which has any real sense of adventure through its clashing electronic and traditional instruments. The same can’t be said for the film’s visual component: often an unintelligible mess during its action sequences (a Colosseum battle perhaps the worst offender), and just completely inert outside of those moments.”

“There’s no reason for anything in this movie except the wish to make even more money […] This washed-out, video-game-looking movie, with its murky night scenes and lack of visual depth, deserves the word [‘content’]. You’ve seen everything in it before, from the equipment, spacecraft, armour, and tactical manoeuvres to the species and various types of terrain (earthlike, but cartoony).”

“The Mandalorian And Grogu isn’t a bad film, per se, it’s just a disappointingly average one set in a universe that once inspired awe.”

The Mandalorian And Grogu hits cinemas on Friday 22 May.