Review of 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'

This is a 3D adaptation of the popular (but very short) television series of the same name (without the “the”). If you did not see the series or are not quite familiar with the Star Wars stories (I mean QUITE familiar) then you very well might get lost in this movie as it very quickly jumps into massive action set pieces with no introduction (yes, no trademark “screen crawl” in the titles to tell us what is actually going on).

The story begins with Anakin and Obi Wan with their clone army doing battle against the droid army. Anakin is annoyed to have been given a padawan by Yoda – a youngling by the name of Ahsoka Tano who is just as petulant as Anakin himself. They are tasked with rescuing Jabba the Hutts young son who has been kidnapped by the droids (who attempt to frame the Jedis for the same).

The animation is almost a literal adaptation of the 2D animation of the television series and, as such, I am not sure if it entirely works on the big screen. In many ways it is too simple and blocky to be entirely successful. Textures and nuances are lost in the acreage on display. The voice actors are very good and do manage to bring a certain amount of their wooden personages to life. It was refreshing to see a few of the original actors (though none of the main characters) doing this but a great shame that Frank Oz (Yoda) was not one of them.

An entertaining if a bit tedious (battle, battle, battle, escape, escape, battle, repeat) piece of Star Wars. Not recommended for anyone but the most committed fans and definitely not for anyone who only has a passing familiarity…

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2008-08-18

Directed by: Dave Filoni

Studio: Lucasfilm Animation

Year: 2008

Length: 98 minutes

Genre: Animation

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185834/