Star Wars: The Clone Wars

8-15-2008

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is the latest installment of George Lucas' space saga.  The film and series, which will debut on Cartoon Network in October, take place in the years between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith as the Jedi Knights and Clone Army battle the Separatists and newly resurgent Sith.

Originally scheduled as the fist story arc of the animated television series, The Clone Wars instead was launched as a 100 minute movie and debuted in theaters today, 8/15.  Early screenings were shown last weekend and some theaters had midnight showings early this morning, but my first chance to catch this locally was at the noon showing.  I'll be seeing it again tomorrow with some fellow PSWCS members and let me tell you, it's good enough that I'm looking forward to it.

The Plot

As the film begins we are reintroduced to our favorite Jedi, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, as they battle the Separatist droid army on the planet Christophsis.  Cut off from the rest of the Republic, the Jedi and their troopers, led by Commander Cody and Captain Rex, are looking to hold on to a city and repel the advancing droid army.

When reinforcements do arrive they are in the form of a new Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.  Although Obi-Wan told Anakin he'd requested a new Padawan, the plan is for Anakin to take the young Togruta Jedi under his wing.  Unwilling at first, Anakin does so and during the battle she begins to prove herself to be not only capable but also as brash and reckless as Anakin himself.

As the Jedi and Clone Troopers work to defeat the army, across the galaxy Jabba the Hutt's son has been kidnapped.  In an effort to gain the Hutt's cooperation, Chancellor Palpatine asks Yoda and Mace Windu to dispatch Jedi to retrieve Jabba's son.  They choose Anakin and Obi-Wan.  Since the battle on Christophsis is not over, Yoda is dispatched with additional Troopers and ships from the fleet.  He frees up Anakin and his new Padawan for the mission to retrieve the kidnapped Hutt.

Taking Ahsoka with him, Anakin travels to the planet where the baby Hutt is being held only to learn that Asajj Ventress is behind the kidnapping.  Meanwhile, Count Dooku is playing Jabba against the Jedi by telling him that they were the ones who kidnapped his son. 

Anakin and Ahsoka foil Asajj Ventress' plan and rescue the little Hutt, battling their way off planet and travelling to Tatooine where Dooku is waiting to intercept them.  Anakin and Ahsoka split up with Ahsoka heading to Jabba's palace while Anakin waits to confront Dooku.  He does so and delays Dooku long enough for Ahsoka to get to Jabba's palace, he then steals Dooku's speeder and travels to Jabba's palace.  Ahsoka had her own battles with Dooku's Magnaguards but in the end, she wins and returns Jabba's son to him.

In the meantime, back on Coruscant, Padme visits Jabba's uncle Ziro to get his help in convincing Jabba that the Jedi were on his side and Dooku was behind the kidnapping all along.  This nearly backfires when it's let out that Ziro conspired with Dooku in the kidnapping.  Padme, with help from C-3PO and Senate Security Troops, turns the tables on Ziro and forces him to spill all to Jabba. 

In the end Jabba extends a treaty to the Republic to grant them access to his trading lanes in order to move troops into the outer rim area to battle the Separatists.

The Characters

Anakin is less whiny in this film and it's a welcomed break.  His character seems more mature than in ROTS and he's set up to be an awesome Jedi to watch in the TV series.

Obi-Wan is still the wise Jedi, there to help bail Anakin out when it looks like he's in over his head.  Plus he kicks some major tail against both the Battle Droid army and Asajj Ventress proving again that he's one of the best Knights around.

Ahsoka is shaping up to be a fun character to watch.  She has just enough sass to keep her character from being stale but not enough that it makes her overly reckless putting her in unnecessary situations where she needs to be rescued.  In other words, she's not in the film to be the damsel in distress.

R2-D2 and C-3PO are back as the comedy relief but it was somewhat subdued and didn't distract from the film.  Most of the humor was provided by the inept Battle Droids and their antics.

Although they had some key scenes, Padme, Yoda, Mace and Palpatine were backup to the Obi-Wan and Anakin show.  I'm hoping to see more of them and the other Jedi as we move forward into the show.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

The film and TV series are being created under the watchful eye of director Dave Filoni who has previously worked on "Avatar" and "Dave the Barbarian."  Lucas has his hand in the show as a writer and some of the same sound people on the live action films are here, including Matthew Wood.  The look of many of the ships and the sounds are directly from the films that we all know so while the character art is new, it still feels like Star Wars.

The music in the film is really well done and while the opening and closing music is not the same John Williams score we are used to, it's similar enough that it passes muster.  Gone is the opening scroll which was replaced, at least in the film, with a voiceover explaining where we were in the war.

New to the Star Wars family are veteran voice actors James Arnold Taylor, Dee Bradley Baker and Tom Kane.  Star Wars veterans Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Daniels and Christopher Lee reprise their roles as Mace Windu, C-3PO and Count Dooku respectively.  Matthew Wood, who voiced General Grievous in ROTS is back as the voice of the Battle Droids and, as sound editor, will probably add other characters to the mix as we go forward.

This film has a lot of battles and some cool dogfights in space and sets the tone for the "war" part of the Clone Wars.  The action is fast and gritty and while the film has a PG rating, this isn't necessarily going to be your typical Saturday morning cartoon, which is why the prime time airing schedule for the show will probably be a good place for it.

The animation was smooth and deep, very colorful and you never feel like you're watching a cartoon, it comes across as a movie first.

The writing in the film is pretty well done and the dialog doesn't seem as forced as it was at points in the prequel films.  Anakin is not as whiny as he sometimes was either, which is both a relief and a puzzle since his petulance was on display in ROTS which will come after the events in the cartoon.

The voice actors all did a fine job on their characters and while we didn't actually hear Hayden Christensen or Ewan McGregor, it still sounded like Anakin and Obi-Wan.

The Wrap-up

I thought the film was very well done and met every expectation and hope that I had for it.  I can see where some people would be looking to tear it down whether for the writing, extended fight scenes or humor on the part of the Battle Droids.  I don't find a need to do that.

There was some humor in the film and while the Battle Droids were almost comical at times, you still didn't feel bad for them when they got tossed off a mountain or blasted by Rex.  As a matter of fact, since the series is based around war, and there are some relatively brutal scenes, the humor did a good job of lightening things up.  If you're laughing as a droid gets his head sliced off you forget you just saw a Clone Trooper get picked up by a Super Battle Droid and shot point blank in the chest.

I liked that Anakin seems somewhat more mature in the animated film than he did in the live action versions.  If things keep headed as they were in the film, Ahsoka will make a good foil for him and keep him from sulking.  Plus, I'm really looking forward to where they take Ahsoka in the series.  I like her character and want to see more.

Ultimately I was extremely satisfied with what I saw on screen earlier today and hope that the ongoing series maintains the momentum.  If you are a Star Wars fan I think you'll enjoy it but this is also a good starting point for younger fans that may not have seen the films.  It will also be a way for new fans to experience Anakin Skywalker as an impressive Jedi Knight and will make his fall and redemption in the films more poignant.  I give this film four out of five Imperial Logos.