A new movie in the “Star Wars” saga used to be an event. With the original films, you got three with three years between them and that’s it and you liked it. And even with the prequel trilogy, creator George Lucas kept to that schedule — three movies (for a total of six) with three years between each release, and that’s all we got and we liked it.

And while the expanded universe of materials in books and TV shows and video games certainly added to the universe, those six movies were still the pinnacle and all that really mattered.

But then came the Disney era, with its plans for a next sequel trilogy with only two years between installments, as well as new spin-off movies set in between the main saga episodes. New Star Wars was no longer an event. It was just a money-making machine for the House of Mouse.

Of course, after two back-to-back clunkers with “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and “The Rise of Skywalker,” theatrical Star Wars came to a sudden stop. However, on streaming service Disney+, the new expanded universe continued to grow with new and continuing animated and live-action series coming out every few months. The specialness of Star Wars continued to diminish in value.

One of the two shining beacons during this period was “The Mandalorian,” a spin-off series about a bounty hunter with the same look as fan-favorite Boba Fett. And while it did eventually connect to the main Skywalker saga in a roundabout way, the core of the series was primarily an episodic Western in space, and the fans mostly loved it.

So now, seven years since the last time a Star War was seen in theaters, the Mandalorian and his baby Yoda-looking apprentice, Grogu, are taking their adventures to the big screen. Unfortunately, this is still a time when the “Star Wars” brand is not as special and must-see as it once was. On the other hand, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” feels like a return to form for the series on the big screen, though a mostly safe and inconsequential adventure.

Set about 12 years after the events of “Return of the Jedi,” the evil Galactic Empire has fallen, but Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice, Grogu, have been enlisted for various missions by Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver), the base commander of New Republic starfighter forces.

In this adventure, Djarin and Grogu have been hired to meet with the younger brother and sister of Jabba the Hutt, who now rule the Hutt Palace on their home world, who in turn hire the duo to find Jabba’s surviving son, Rotta (Jeremy Allen White), who has purportedly fallen in with “bad company” on a moon in the crime-ridden Outter Rim of the galaxy.

Where this film and much of its original TV series work best is the relationship between Djarin and Grogu. Even though Pascal isn’t always in the suit, and Grogu does not talk, the combination of voice work, body language and puppeteering makes the shenanigans these two get into — both the hilarious and the action-packed — worth seeing.

Unfortunately, the biggest divide this film is going to make with audiences depends on what each viewer is looking for. For those who love the episodic nature of the show and want to experience that on the big screen, you’re in luck, since this primarily feels like three or four episodes strung together. I’m sure the fact that directors/writers/producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni were already working on season four of the show when Disney told them to make a movie instead is a complete coincidence.

However, even by TV standards, “The Mandalorian” is among the highest quality productions you can get. The special effects, the physical worlds, the creatures, the atmosphere and Ludwig Göransson’s score are all phenomenal. But when a theatrically released “Star Wars” movie used to be an event, this ends up falling short of that highest of bars. But in a choice between no Star Wars and new Star Wars, I’ll always take more of the latter.