Star Wars: The Clone Wars

August 16, 2008

Rated: PG Runtime: 98 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Not to be confused with the 2003-2005 animated series on The Cartoon Network done by the SUMURAI JACK crowd, STAR WARS: CLONE WARS, this is *THE* CLONE WARS, computer animated this time around. A lead-in to a new animated series starting in October on the Cartoon Network. George Lucas is planning to do around 100 22-minute episodes of this.

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS This theatrical movie takes place between STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES and STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH.

Anakin and Obi-Wan continue to lead clone soldiers in battle against the droid armies on various planets. Anakin Skywalker has just been promoted to Jedi, and he’s been assigned an apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, an orange-skinned alien with 3 head tails. Apparently not the same species as the blue-skinned aliens with 2 head tails. The dress code for Padawans seems to have been relaxed, because she runs around in a halter top and shorts.

Darth Sidius and Count Dooku want control of the Outer Rim systems, and to do this they need the cooperation of gangster Jabba the Hutt. So, they’ve kidnapped his son, Rotta the Huttlet, but made it look like somebody else did it. Their plan is to “rescue” him, return him to Jabba, and get in Jabba’s good graces. Their minion, Asajj Ventress, a bald pale-white goth Sith (She appeared in the 2003-2005 CLONE WARS series), is holed up in an ancient monastery atop a mountain with the little bugger.

Anakin and Ahsoka head to the planet where Lil’ Hutt is being held, while Obi-Wan goes to Tatooine
to deal with Jabba.

Meanwhile, in the film’s most bizarre scenes, Padme, Anakin’s secret wife, goes to a nightclub on Coruscant to try to negotiate with Jabba the Hutt’s gay uncle, Truman Capote the Hutt.

It took me about a half hour to warm to the animation style in this, but then it was fun. The Good Guy assault on the mountaintop monastery where the bad guys are hanging out is truly spectacular, with big crawling tanks going vertically up the cliffs while droids plummet all around.

Either you’ve had enough of STAR WARS or you haven’t, and if you want some more, this is enjoyable. And it’ll be interesting to see what they do in the TV series (Apparently the focus of the series won’t be on Anakin and Obi-Wan, but will follow various characters in the STAR WARS universe).

Posted by Mack Guffin | Filed Under 3 Stars, Action, Animated, Christopher Lee, Samuel Jackson, SciFi, Theatrical