Movie Review: 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' is fun adventure
If you're influenced by the force, that is
"If anybody can fly a bucket of bolts through hyperspace, he can."
That's a quote from Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." Unfortunately for moviegoers, he's talking about Anakin Skywalker, not George Lucas, whose rigorous adherence to increasingly byzantine "Star Wars" dogma is the opposite of the intuitive improvisation that enables a Jedi Knight to transform disaster into triumph.
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Rated PG for sci-fi action violence throughout, brief language and momentary smoking
Length: 98 minutes
Released: August 15, 2008 NationwideScore: 2.0
Cast: Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, Dee Bradley Baker, Tom Kane
Director: Dave FiloniProducer: Catherine Winder
Writer: Henry Gilroy, George Lucas
Genre: Animation, Action/Adventure, SciFi/Fantasy
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
A computer-generated animated feature, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is not to be confused with "Star Wars: Clone Wars," a 25-episode series, produced with traditional "flat" animation that debuted on The Cartoon Network in 2003. Those who know the difference probably were the people who applauded Monday night after a preview screening of the new film, a response that reminded me of a quote from the original Obi-Wan, Alec Guinness: "The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded."
Shed of its SWEU (that's Star Wars Expanded Universe, to you) arcana, "The Clone Wars" contains a simple adventure tale that is more satisfying than the overcomplicated march to a preordained end that characterized Episodes I, II and III of Lucas' series, by which I mean the fourth, fifth and sixth "Star Wars" films, of course. If you don't understand that arithmetic, "Clone Wars" is not for you: The movie drops the spectator smack dab into yet another wearyingly epic battle as well as into the buzzing hive of the inbred Lucas universe.
Specifically, the movie fills in part of the gap between "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" and "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," for all those who have been wondering: Just how did the Separatists of Count Dooku and Darth Sidious plan to gain control of crucial shipping lanes from the Galactic Empire? Where were Padmé Amidala and Mace Windu? And who put the tribbles in the quadrotritecale?
Because the term "shipping lanes" doesn't stir the blood, "The Clone Wars" focuses more closely on a kidnapping. This is the satisfying part of the story, as Anakin (voiced by Matt Lanter) and his young female Padawan Jedi-in-training, Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein), try to rescue Jabba the Hutt's son -- a baby "Huttling" who is referred to as "stinky" and a "chubby little slug" by the surprisingly human-chauvinist heroes -- from Count Dooku, who plans to make an ally of Jabba by framing the Jedi for the crime. (Dooku is voiced by the great Christopher Lee, 86, who gets more lines here than in his two live-action "Star Wars" movies combined; also recreating their live-action roles are Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, the fussy "protocol droid," and Samuel L. Jackson as Jedi Mace Windu.)
The initially antagonistic relationship between Anakin and his Padawan (she calls him "Skyguy," he calls her "Snips"), is predictable and corny. But as an action team, the pair work well together; their vertical assault on a monastic stronghold guarded by Dooku's fanboy pinup of a double-lightsaber- wielding agent, Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman), is particularly exciting. (The percussive score by Kevin Kiner -- which eschews the by-now over-familiar orchestrations of John Williams -- helps.)
Directed by Dave Filoni (a veteran of Nickelodeon's well-regarded animated series, "Avatar: The Last Airbender") from a script by Henry Gilroy, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" ultimately fails to justify its existence to the world outside of "Star Wars" fandom. The primary reason for its failure, sad to say, is what should be the movie's strong point: the animation.
The flat cartoons produced for the short "Clone Wars" TV episodes were bold and distinctive, and a striking departure from the photorealistic computer-generated imagery of the recent live-action movies. The new film -- the first feature from Lucasfilm Animation -- represents a retreat; it splits the difference between 2D stylization and 3D realism. This look may work well when the followup animated series premieres later this year on The Cartoon Network, but on the big screen the result is as unattractive as the graphics in a videogame, with characters reminiscent of "Thunderbirds Are Go!" marionettes (beards and hairdos seem carved from wood) interacting within dull and surprisingly dim CG environments that perversely seem just a few mouse clicks away from full "Revenge of the Sith" realization.
Considering that most of what appeared onscreen in the three most recent live-action "Star Wars" movies was not live but literally unreal, Lucasfilm's failure to deliver a visually stunning animated feature is a shocker. Instead of making a splash in the summer of Batman, WALL-E and ABBA, "The Clone Wars" is just the latest drop of anemic blood squeezed from the petrifying husk of a once innovative science-fiction franchise.
-- John Beifuss, 529-2394
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