Truthfully, I don’t think this film is all that bad, in-fact, I genuinely kind of like it ... but that’s mostly because of my own personal feelings toured the TV series this movie launched. Yeah, I Love the TV show "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", and on the standards of a pilot episode, this dose it’s job introducing the characters, and giving them a decent first adventure to set the stage for things to come. Actually, when watching this film, I’m always in the mindset that it’s just an episode from the series. Behind the scenes, this project actually started as four individual episodes, but were then edited together to make a feature film ... and it really shows. As such, even though I kind of like this film, I will admit, it fails big time as a standalone theatrical movie. Nothing about this film works as a theatrical experience, as it just doesn't have enough material for a wider, general audience.
The story is set some-time shortly after the events of “Star Wars 2: Attack of the Clones”, and the ensuing events will gradually lead into "The Clone Wars" TV series. Following in the tradition of “Return of the Jedi”, the movie begins with a thirty minuet long event that really has nothing to do with the actual plot, and could be viewed as a bones episode before the main event.
Basically, some nameless evil general is leading an invasion on some planet, and our two Jedi hero’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are there with an army of valiant clone troopers fighting them off. This sequence admittedly goes on for way too long, and by the time it’s done, your left exhausted before the actual mission starts. The one significant thing to happen in this opening is that Anakin meets his new young female apprentice named Ahsoka, who quickly becomes one of the chief main characters of the series. After the two get to know one another, the real mission finally begins. The infant son of the evil crime lord Jabba the Hutt has been kidnapped by the sinister Count Dooku, and he's framed the Jedi for his abduction, which Jabba takes hostile action against. Thus, the chase is on, as Anakin and Ahsoka have to learn to work together, rescue the infant, clear the name of the Jedi, and battle waves and waves of enemies in the process.
Right off the bat, my biggest reservation with this being a theatrically released film is that it's wall-to-wall action, with endless shooting, and the story mainly exists just as an excuse to set-up several long winded battle scenes with troopers barking orders, and Jedi slicing through droids.
This kind of format works fine as a TV event broken-up between several episodes, but as a movie experience, it can feel very repetitive. With that said, watching this film at home with a mind-set of binging multiple episodes ... it's perfectly passable, with just enough decent character beats to support all the spectacle. Some of the action is generally exciting to watch, and there's even some original set-pieces. There’s an especially fun battle with armies and war machines fighting vertically on the side of a mountain, and I can’t say I’ve seen anything like that before. Also, even though the endless battles can feel exhausting, it still has some momentum, and a drive that carries me through it.
My other reservation I have with this film is that our main story revolves solely around Jabba the Hutt, and how he’s the only character with something to lose. Yeah, this movie actually makes Jabba the Hutt look like a victim who we’re supposed to feel some sympathy for ... which is impossible. I mean for goodness sake, it’s Jabba the Hutt, the same villain who dumped a cute little green girl in a monster pit back in “Return of the Jedi”. There’s also a sub plot in which Anakin's wife Padme goes undercover to unravel a secret plot revolving around Jabba’s crooked uncle named Zero the Hutt. Needless to say, he's probably the stupidest villain to ever come from the Star Wars universe. It’s revealed that Zero helped organize the kidnapping plot for personal reasons against Jabba, but it feels very abrupt, as this plot doesn't come into play until the final twenty minuets of the film. By extent, it makes Padme feel like a last minuet addition.
While the characters don't shine as brightly as they do in the TV series, but the movie at least establishes a decent foundation for them to build on. Anakin Skywalker is now voiced by Matt Lanter, and is actually pretty good in the role, combining elements of both Hayden Christensen's Anakin, with traits of Mark Hamels Luke Skywalker. Many people have mixed feelings about Ahsoka, and while the movie doesn’t exactly give her the chance to leave much of an impression, I’ve come to regard her as a classic Star Wars character in her own right.
Voice actress Ashley Eckstein dose a fine job bringing Ahsoka to life with a bubbly and high spirited performance, and I love her interactions with Anakin. These two actually have good chemistry, and there was certain spark between them that got me interested to see more of the two in the animated TV show. While their obviously not as charismatic as the cast from the original films, they do at least hold their own, with witty banter, and they do have some subtle interactions. My favorite scene of the whole film is when Anakin chooses to take her on as an apprentice, and it's very rewarding for us long time fans of the series to look back on this scene as the moment in which their friendship first took shape. Also, whenever Anakin and Ahsoka have an emotional moment, there's subtle music ques that will eventually become their dramatic music balled in the TV show. The remaining characters are all pretty good, and I immediately loved the one clone trooper named Captain Rex. He was like a one man army, and at the time was one of the most dignified non-Jedi characters to be series. Obi-Wan Kenobi has less to do, but returning voice actor James Arnold Taylor, from the "Clone Wars" micro series, is still awesome in the role, and captures Ewan McGregor’s voice perfectly.
The most entertaining character who mostly steals the show is the new female villain called Asajj Ventress, who’s a dark Jedi assassin, and the biggest threat that stands in the way of our hero’s. While she had been introduced in the expanded Star Wars series before, this is when she really took on a life of her own as one of the franchises great villains. Voice actress Nika Futterman is fantastic is the role, supplying the character with a malevolent voice, and shadowy menace. While she's mainly just a cool obstacle in this first movie, she'll eventually become one of the most multi-layered characters in the show. She has a great design, and some thrilling light-saber duels, even though the actual fighting choreography is a little stiff at times. Her big showdown with Obi-Wan in this film is fine, but not on par with what the animation team would eventually perfect in the series.
Most of the popular "Star Wars" characters like Yoda, Padme Amidala, R2-D2, and the evil Emperor Palpatine just make brief appearances, and have little bearing on the film, but once again, the new voice cast does a good job filling in the respected roles.
While most of the voice cast is new, some of the original talents continue to supply the voice work. Obviously, Anthony Daniels still supplies the voice for C-3PO, which is always welcome. Surprisingly, Samuel L. Jackson continued to do the voice for Mace Windu, but he’s in the film for about a minute or two, and then quietly disappears ... so what’s the point. Well, then again, Samuel L. Jackson is making a carrier of having cameo appearances in those Marvel movies, so why not call him in to read four lines of dialog. On the opposite side of that coin, Christopher Lee continued to supply the voice of Count Dooku, who has a much bigger role in this film as the main villain. In fact, Count Dooku actually has more screen time in this movie then he did in either of the live action movies. Unfortunately, it’s not one of Christopher Lee’s stronger performances, and it pains me to say this, but his voice acting in this film is actually quiet mediocre when compared to Corey Burton, who supplied the voice of Count Dooku in the TV show.
The animation on display certainly has a distinct style, but it’s also kind of lifeless, and once again is sub-par compared to the perfected animation of the TV show ... which definitely highlighted how far they’ve come sense this first project. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that, while the design of the movie is unique, the animation itself is kind of sloppy. This is also the first Star Wars movie to have a musical score composed by someone other than John Williams. Some of his classic tracks are used, but it’s mostly done by the new composer Kevin Kiner. I actually like his music variety in this film a lot, with a fun rock soundtrack highlighting the action, and there’s also a subtle quire that adds some atmosphere to the locations.
It may seem odd to comment on, but after all the loud battle scenes, and endless fights, the movie actually builds to really subtle climax. On the way to Jabba’s palace, Anakin and his young apprentice Ahsoka are ambushed by Count Dukoo and his droids. It’s actually a very satisfying final battle, as there’s no war, no armies, and it allows me to get excited without getting exhausted.
In the end, this film really should have been a TV movie, or at the very least a direct to video film, because there’s nothing about it that makes it worthy for the theater. It goes without saying that when a movie is released in the cinema, it swims with movies of high quality, which can raise viewer expectations. Look at it this way, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” came out the same year as animated hits like “Kung Fu Panda”, “Bolt” and “WALL-E”, and all three out-shined this film by a mile with quality storytelling, mature content, some genuinely adult themes, and have been regarded as classics in their own right. This movie quietly sneaked into the theater, left without people giving it much thought, and is largely forgotten by all except those who watched the show.
Thanks for reading my review of the animated 2008 movie “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” ... and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!
To be Continued...
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