Now, probably every single scifi fan knows the significance of this date, that's right, it's the year episode IV of Star Wars was originally released. Now, nearly 31 years from those humble times, a new chapter in the Star Wars saga has emerged. Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
For those of you who don't know the plot here's just a summary from imdb:
"As the Clone Wars sweep through the galaxy, the heroic Jedi Knights struggle to maintain order and restore peace. More and more systems are falling prey to the forces of the dark side as the Galactic Republic slips further and further under the sway of the Separatists and their never-ending droid army. Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano find themselves on a mission with far-reaching consequences, one that brings them face-to-face with crime lord Jabba the Hutt. But Count Dooku and his sinister agents, including the nefarious Asajj Ventress, will stop at nothing to ensure that Anakin and Ahsoka fail at their quest. Meanwhile, on the front lines of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda lead the massive clone army in a valiant effort to resist the forces of the dark side ... "
Well that about sums up this film. As many scifi fans know Star Wars has always been an excellent film that was made with live-action...unfortunately this is not the case for this film. The entire film was made with CGI which I found to be an odd step to take. Of course, something I should point out is this film is really just one gigantic pilot episode for the new series coming out. So, of course they have to make it CGI, seeing as the series is going to be CGI.
The film begins very suddenly with an overview of what's been going on. This brief part has a narrator telling us what happened rather then the traditional crawling text.
Also, may I note that this film not only had no involvement with the usual 20th Century Fox, but also it didn't use John Williams original theme. Instead it used a newly composed sounding version of the theme.
My view of the plot. I felt it to be...loose. The idea of the infamous crime lord's son being kidnapped and it's up to two Jedis to save him seems to me kinda odd. Not that saving a crime lord's son is a bad thing, it just doesn't seem "Star Wars-y". Otherwise, the idea of giving Anakin a padawan to teach seemed like a very nice idea. It's always fun seeing Lord of the Emo's teach a 15 year old alien girl how to brutally destroy robots with a sword that cuts through anything known to the universe.
The action scenes in the movie are...shall I say...intense. They are fabulous. Just what I'd expect from a Star Wars film set in the Clone Wars. In fact, after I saw the film I really wanted to blast some Separatist Battle Droids myself. Lightsaber battles in the film where great, dog fights in space were okay (weren't many of them).
The voice acting maybe could've been a little improved. Not the voices themselves or how they spoke per say, but just some of the lines. Anakin constantly calls his Padawan "Snips" and she calls him "Sky-guy" (obvious pun on his name Skywalker). These nicknames bothered me for one small reason...They really don't seem to have any meaning besides showing us Jedis can't create good nicknames for people. Another thing I was a little bothered by was that Jabba the Hutt had an uncle named Ziro the Hutt. Ziro, who I kinda expected to be a little older and more "Godfather-like", turned out to be a purple, young looking, and sounding like a woman. It was hard to think of him as "Jabba's Uncle", I kept wanting to think of him as "Jabba's Scary Aunt".
Now, interestingly enough only four of the actors from the original movie performed their voices for the movie. Anthony Daniels (C3-Po), Matthew Wood (General Grievous, who ironically never really spoke at all in the film), Christopher Lee (Count Dooku), and Samuel L Jackson (Mace Windu, and he's had it with those snakes on that Jedi Council).
Animation in the film was good, yet I found it to be kinda blocky. Of course, that is probably because it's trying to be like the former cartoon series which itself had a blocky feel.
Overall: The film was decent. Not the best Star Wars film, yet certainly not the worst (
I give the film a good 3/5
-Z
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