Dones’ Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (May Contain Spoilers)
Cats: Movies, TV|Bottom Line: Fits well with the prequels, should lead to a good TV series.
**Note: If you want to remain totally spoiler-free before you watch the film, please note this review does contain what I would call significant spoilers. It’s also safe to assume any comments may contain spoilers**
This wasn’t a film I had to see on opening day, or even in the theaters, but I’m glad I did. I was originally quite guarded in my enthusiasm and expectations for this first animated Star Wars feature. After all, like my dad said to me last night: why did they make this film? (My cynical response: “The Search for More Money”). The story of the Family Skywalker (especially that of Anakin) has already been told in full, and we’ve already got Episode II & III, along with the Clone Wars ‘microseries’ that pretty much encompasses the Clone Wars. What else needs to be told?
Well, apparently the story of Ahsoka Tano, the padawan Jedi apprentice of Anakin Skywalker. Hers is a story that begins in this film, and is purportedly to be the subject of the upcoming animated Clone Wars television series. “Thank goodness for a female Jedi lead character!” my wife exclaimed. So one would assume at this point that Ahsoka’s story is one that follows very closely the course of the Clone Wars.
Anyway, the events of this film occur sometime between the end of the microseries and the beginning of Episode III. Not sure where Ahsoka is supposed to be in Revenge of the Sith, but according to a George Lucas interview by G4’s Morgan Webb, we don’t know what eventually happens to her, and the television series may or may not play that out in full.
But she’s not the star of this film: I think the show is stolen by little Rotta the Hutt, Jabba’s baby son (pictured above), who is just adorable. “Stinky” as the Jedi call him (Jabba calls him his little ‘Punky Muffin’) is quite the lovable little slug, and I can envision a whole line of children’s stories and other items (Lucasfilm, please license a plush toy!) based on this little guy.
Here’s one more thing I want to say to parents of small children: you should be aware that there’s a lot of warfare violence in this film: clone troopers and droid warriors are picked off in battle by blaster fire at random, and there’s not really any remorse displayed by anyone nearby. Just keep that in mind in case it makes a difference in whether or not you choose to take your kids to this ‘cartoon’. I saw it with a kindergartner who did just fine, but I can see other kids being bothered by the killings. And with that said, here are the ratings:
Production value: 4/5 stars. The animation was top notch, sound was great (though AMC had it turned up a bit too much). I even liked the voice acting…but I wish they’d brought everyone back for the voice-overs, not just some incidental folks like Christopher Lee and Samuel L. Jackson. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful they were part of the project, but if what would bring 5 stars is to have all the main characters voiced by the same actors from the films. At least the voice actors they found were good, and I honestly thought that we had Natalie Portman & Ewan McGregor’s voices, though they were recreated by other capable artists. I didn’t even really mind the stylized animation like I thought I would, because it sucked me in that well.
Story: 3/5 stars. I am trying to be fair with this rating. I think the story was well done, but for a Star Wars film, I could have had more. The character development was decent, though they basically did away with that after the first act or so. The heroes tended to go different directions for seemingly random reasons, and I don’t know that those reasons were justified well enough in all cases. Yes, it’s a cartoon, and yes, it’s just the beginning of the tale of Ahsoka Tano…but it wasn’t quite epic enough to be a feature film. A two-hour TV pilot, definitely. And if that’s how you look at the film, then it was awesome, and well worth watching.
Enjoyability: 4/5 stars: It takes a lot to get 5 stars out of me for enjoyability, and this film didn’t provide what was needed. Nevertheless, it was a great addition to the saga: in a place in the story that didn’t necessarily need to be fleshed out, it added to the overall feel of the Star Wars galaxy. The humor was genuinely funny and not corny or annoying like in the prequels, and that’s worth a lot right there. I really wish my little Punky Muffin was old enough to watch it, because I’m sure he would have gotten a kick out of the vertical battle scene just like I did, as well as the interplay between the characters. So overall, this gets a…
Dones’ Rating: 
Although the overarching plot could be more epic, it’s not supposed to be. Given that, Clone Wars is a great movie. I look forward to the TV series, as well as adding the DVD of this film (and a plush huttling) to my collection.
