Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Yes, the opening intro without JW's music or the crawl was a HUGE mistake. (The voice over did make me cringe..ugh!) Yes, the human characters looked freakin bizarre (Kenobi's beard looked like a wood carving) and they should have gone with a more realistic look instead of the pointless style they used.

And yes, the story was pretty childish for a feature film aimed at adults...But that's the thing. This is an opener for a TV cartoon. It was not intended to blend right into the live action franchise. My kids liked it just fine, and I was not offended at all by it. In fact the action scenes were quite impressive. We finally get to see enough clone/droid mayhem to make people complain that it's too much (meaning almost enough clone/droid mayhem for me:) You guys are like a bunch of spoiled kids. Luke, Han, & Co. are NEVER coming back! Some day someone will probably do a series of re-makes or spin-offs that will have a more serious tone, and I agree that the franchise really needs that. But it won't happen while George is at the wheel. So if your going to get suicidal every time George cranks out one of his Disney-phase projects...Just stay away from it. It's not worth the stress.

I went to go see a special screening today at 1:00 at the Mainside theater in Camp Pendleton. My little brothers, 5 and 4, were very excited because they are huge Star Wars fans. I guess you could say I was excited too. Well, I did not know what I was going to expect, since this was the first animated Star Wars. First I must say this was not as grandeur as the other Star Wars, but I am pretty sure that it wasn't meant to be. And I know that this movie is going to kick off the new 100 episode cartoon. I was a little disappointed that they had new voice overs such as the one for Kenobi and Skywalker, however the new voice over for Kenobi is hard to tell that it is different. For Anakin, however, I did not think that there could be a more annoying voice than Hayden Christensen. YOu actually are going to miss Christen's voice. But I tried to not pay attention to that, which was very distracting, and focus on the whole picture, the plot. In my opinion, the plot was too simplistic for a Star Wars film because the whole entire movie is about Anakin and his new padawan, I forget her name, trying to rescue Jabba the Hutt's son. Thats it. Kenobi and Yoda are barely in the film. I loved the fight scenes and the ones at the end definitely pulled the movie up. And the grand scale scenes were pretty impressive. I wasn't too impressed with some the humor they tried to pull off. I mean some of the slapstick comedy sucked so bad that I almost wanted to leave ethe theater. there were some humorous moments that actually made me chuckle a bit but most of the comedy was meant for kids younger than 10 years old. Great movie for the little kids and people that are going to watch the TV series but you need to be a true Star Wars fan to love this movie.

This film is gonna have two sets of detractors. One set will be of people dying to see George Lucas crash and burn because they didn't like the prequels. The other will be people who, regardless of their feelings about the previous movies will enter with an ill conceived expectation for a great story. The rest of you, like me will have a blast watching this thing.

This movie is basically an extended pilot for a soon to premiere animated series and it plays as such. We are introduced to our characters, some new and some old and watch them set out on missions that take them through hair raising battle after hair raising battle. There is no conclusion, yet no cliff hanger, just a solitary mission, another day in the lives of Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi. In other words, no attempt at any great earth shattering plot, just a lot of good solid action and fun. Whether or not the TV series will develop more complicated story arcs and sub plots is only known by its creators right now, but its the simplicity that works here. I went into this movie expecting nothing but big action, cool characters and a slick look, and that's exactly what I got. The heart of the Star Wars franchise has always been its fun, and this is a cartoon...they're taking advantage of the opportunity to take the explosive larger than life elements of the films and skew them to an altered animated reality...which is what makes cartoons worth watching.

I loved the design of the whole thing too. It is very graphic and unique and I can understand that it may not be everyone's cup of tea but for me it's a great look. In a time when movie theaters are saturated with CG animated fair, many of which are so concerned with out doing one another with their increasingly real skin textures and bump mapping, it's refreshing to see a film that wants to be different. If you want something to look real, you might as well get a camera. For those of you who thought this graphic simplistic look was some kinda time/money saver, give yourself a shake, they wanted it to look this way. And if you're an animator like myself...take note.

Bottom line, you're not gonna walk out of this movie a different person, and its not gonna win any awards...but it's a hell of a lot of fun.

What's the hate I really don't get it. Ok animation isnt the best it felt a bit choopy and they did a bad job on the character's face expressions. The writing was good for the most part not too bad or good. The voice acting was likable and the composition of the music was also well done for the most part. The characters were likable and we get to the see the beginning of the dynamics between Ahoska and Anakin.

It was a likable movie but not memorable by any means and I wouldn't watch it again even though it was alright for the most part.

The action in this animated film takes place sometime after that depicted in 'Attack of the Clones'. The war between The Republic and Count Dooku's droid army is still raging and both sides want access to the space controlled by Jabba the Hutt. When Jabba's young son is kidnapped the Jedi decide their cause will be helped if they are the ones to rescue him. Obi-Wan and Anakin are to lead the mission; they will be accompanied by Ahsoka Tano, a Padawan apprentice who Yoda has entrusted to Anakin.

This may not be the greatest addition to the 'Star Wars' franchise but I thought it was rather fun. The action is solid from start to finish meaning one can easily overlook some of the film's flaws. With the exception of Ahsoka Tano there aren't many new characters. No time is wasted reintroducing old characters; it is clear that the makers expect the viewers to have seen the preceding films. Ahsoka is a fun addition to the cast; I liked how her relationship with Anakin developed throughout the film. There are some weak points; the character designs took a little getting used to and I could have done without the 'amusingly' incompetent droid army... of course it is easy to forget that a key part of the 'Star Wars' audience has always been the fairly young. The voice acting is impressive; some characters kept their voice actors from the live action prequels but most didn't and the new cast sound like the originals. Overall I thought this was a decent addition to the franchise although I suspect it will appeal most to younger fans.