Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

starwars-clonewars-1024x576Is “The Clone Wars” as bad as people have said? Yes and no. I had fun, I sat through the animated “Star Wars” entry with a chuckle and a half smile and enjoyed these characters yet again. The animated team manages to comprise a film with animation that’s pretty eye catching if below par what the Lucas team is capable of. But then again, there won’t be much of a difference when the Cartoon Network airs the series in a few months. Top that off with the interesting voice work that I quite enjoyed. You have to appreciate actor Matt Lanter for putting life and energy in to Anakin Skywalker, almost completely making me forget the awful performances by Hayden Christensen. Voice actor James Arnold Taylor reprises his role from the original “Clone Wars” mini-series and does a bang up job reprising the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi and giving us the character’s charms and gravitas in full force.

There’s also the adorable Ashley Eckstein who I quite enjoyed as new Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano, the female protagonist. Ahsoka is a fascinating heroine and she has a charming relationship with Anakin. It’s a shame when a new character ends up having a relationship with more romantic potential than Padme did in the entire “Star Wars” prequel trilogy. Eckstein’s charismatic voice acting counts for a lot when the amusing (if consistently corny) script emphasizes her personality well. As for Asajj Ventress, I love the character and I’m glad she’s the dominant power of the darkside here providing adamant temptation for Sith conversion for both Anakin and Ahsoka. Nika Futterman provides a very memorable performance and more than proves her worth filling in for Grey DeLisle. I personally love watching the story of the Jedi’s against the Sith, but “The Clone Wars” suffers from many flaws, including the opening shots which feature a narrator explaining what is happening during the Clone Wars.

Instead of the scroll that we’re used to. The problem with this movie is that it intends on appealing solely to children rather than throwing a bone to the adult “Star Wars” fans. If that’s not enough, it’s all just one big glorified pilot episode/cash grab for the Cartoon Network series featuring new characters that are now canon for the sole purpose of pandering to the audience. We’re given a flamboyantly homosexual uncle of Jabba the Hutt who speaks English, and our heroes are given the task of rescuing and delivering Jabba’s son. Of course Anakin turned on the Jedi and became Darth Vader; if the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy is given the task of rescuing and delivering a baby Hutt, I’d turn to the dark side, too. This Huttlet plot device is painfully out of place with gags reliant on the baby farting and burping, with that inevitable question on how Hutts breed in the first place.

I don’t see a penis anywhere. The animation really needs some oompf and seems to actively work at being unlike a “Star Wars” movie with tones and atmosphere that strive to become its own product and work against the energy. Any of the creativity we saw with the prior films are pretty much non-existent. The primary villain here is named General Loathsom (Get it? Loathsome, Loathsom! Brilliance!) who is not much of a replacement for Grievous when all is said and done, but then I doubt Grievous has been introduced yet. Matched with the stock supporting characters and droids, and you have a formula for mediocrity all around. I say if you want an interesting look at The Clone Wars, you’d be better off checking out Gendy Tartakovsky animated mini-series from 2003, because at least the flaws in that one were minimal because it’s only an hour.

This film has a lot of own up to and its feature length emphasizes the flaws two fold turning it from a mediocre animated actioner to a pure underwhelming “Star Wars” fodder. I didn’t mind sitting through “The Clone Wars” thanks to the good voice work and eye catching battles. I enjoyed the previous 2D cartoon chronicling the battle, and odds are I’ll even give the animated series a chance when it airs in a few months, so “Star Wars” fans, quit being such whiny bitches and move on to “Stargate: Atlantis.” “The Clone Wars” attempts to re-capture some of the campy whimsical serial emotion from the original trilogy and in rare instances, it succeeds. It’s not the worst movie of the year, it’s not even the worst movie of the series, it’s just an animated variation that works as a guilty pleasure.