Star Wars:
The Clone Wars
7 out of 10
|
Release
Date:
August 2008 |
 |
|
Starring:
(voices) Matt
Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, Ashley Eckstein, Tom Kane, Ian
Abercrombie, Catherine Taber, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher
Lee, Anthony Daniels. |
|
Music:
Kevin Kiner, with material by John Williams |
|
Producer:
George Lucas, Sarah Wall, Catherine Winder |
|
Written
by: Henry Gilroy,
Stephen Melching, Scott Murphy, from a story by George Lucas |
|
Directed
by:
Dave Filoni |
I have
mixed feelings about Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The geeky side of me
(the part of me that absolutely loves everything related to Star Wars,
no matter how ridiculous it might look at first sight) wants to like the
movie a lot. The film critic side of me, on the other hand, wants to
criticize the movie for all its faults but, surprisingly enough, isn’t
willing to verbally assault George Lucas and his team at Lucasfilm Animation
like many people have. I went to see Clone Wars with my girlfriend
expecting the worse, and what I ended up watching was some solid 98 minutes
of Star Wars action and cheesiness. I know, dialogue is a little
goofy and the plot isn’t very interesting, but I just found the movie to be
really entertaining and fun. Animation is, for the most part, pretty
impressive, and the action sequences are both creative and suitably
exciting. This isn’t, as many exaggerated fans have said, an insult to the
Star Wars saga. If you take it for what it is, you can actually
have a good time watching Clone Wars.
The
film’s plot isn’t the most interesting Lucas and company could have come up
with, but I guess it’s OK. Count Dooku (voice of Christopher Lee) and his
minions have plotted to kidnap Jabba the Hut's son and frame the Jedi
Knights for his capture and death. The bad thing is that the Jedi are
negotiating with the Hutts to move their troops through the space they
control, so if they are framed for said kidnapping, they could have a
disadvantage in the war. General Obi-Wan Kenobi (voice of James Arnold
Taylor), General Anakin Skywalker (voice of Matt Lanter), and Anakin's new
Padawan, Ahsoka Tano (voice of Ashley Eckstein), are sent to rescue Jabba’s
little slug and take him alive to his dad in Tatooine. Along the way, our
heroes will get involved in countless battles, as well as engagements
against the nefarious Asajj Ventress, (Nika Futterman), Dooku’s apprentice.
OK, so
let’s talk about the quality of the animation first. Opinion is divided
about it, with some people saying it looks cool and that its design is
original, while others say people in this new animated Star Wars
universe look like wooden toys and move like robots. Well, I actually
support the first group. I know this isn’t Pixar-quality animation, but I
admire the fact that Lucasfilm Animation could do so much with so little;
the film reportedly cost something like $20 million, which is very
little for a movie of this sort. Droids and ships look great, and the human
characters, while not realistic, have a certain charm that made me like
them. Obi-Wan looks great, Anakin looks more or less like Hayden Christensen
(according to my girlfriend, he looked hot… so it can’t be that bad),
and Mace Windu looks surprisingly a lot like Samuel L. Jackson.
Additionally, battle scenes are expertly choreographed, and the lightsabre
duels, while a little tame when compared to the engagements in the Clone
Wars microseries, are not bad at all. The animation might not be perfect
– characters do movie a little stiffly -, but it’s nothing to cry
about. It certainly doesn’t look ugly. For me, it works beautifully
in the context of the movie.
Some
people have also complained that the film doesn’t feel like Star Wars
because of the way it opens. For me, this is one of the reasons I can’t
believe people haven’t liked the movie – they haven’t enjoyed it because it
is different. They can’t enjoy it because it is animated, and because
the music doesn’t sound Star Wars-y, and because the film doesn’t
have an opening crawl. For me, that’s a little short-sighted. I appreciated
the fact that Lucas tried something a little – but not too –
different, and that it worked. For example, the opening voice-over, which
sounds like something out of a World War 2 reel, is cheesy, but engaged me
because it’s so damn different. Additionally, I found Kevin Kliner’s
music to be extremely varied and enjoyable. There are many references to
John William’s themes, both from the original and prequel trilogy,
and the original stuff, while not on the same level as Williams’ work, works
within the movie. I particularly liked the tunes that used an eerie female
chorus and the jazzy tunes played during the Coruscant scenes, and the
infamous rock-like track that plays when Obi-Wan appears in his starfighter
is not half-bad. Actually, now that I have seen the movie, I’m not
regretting the fact that I’ve already ordered the soundtrack CD. In fact, I
want to listen to the music so that I can truly appreciate it.
Now,
there is also the character of Ahsoka Tano. Some people have liked her, and
some have not. I’m more or less on middle ground. While she is not the most
charismatic sidekick to appear on the big screen, I didn’t find her as
annoying as many people have. She behaves like a typical teenager, gives
cheesy nicknames to Anakin (yes, the same one who will eventually turn into
Darth-friggin’-Vader), and argues with him a lot. I personally found all
their bickering mildly entertaining, mainly because it’s not overdone, and
because it works due to the nature of the character. It also helps Ashley
Eckstein’s voice acting gives a lot of energy to the character. In fact, I’m
actually looking forward to the development of their relationship throughout
the soon-to-be-released TV show. It should be interesting, and it should
work better on the TV show than on a theatrical motion picture.
The
rest of the characters are all right too. Matt Lander makes Anakin his own,
and definitely has a less annoying voice that Hayden Christensen. James
Arnold Taylor sounds surprisingly like Ewan McGregor. Obi-Wan is definitely
the most dignified character in the movie, adding some class to the
proceedings, mainly because of his English accent (is pretty difficult
not to be classy when having a British accent, even in an animated
film), and because of the way he behaves. (His “negotiations” with the alien
general in the opening sequence are priceless.) Samuel L. Jackson and
Christopher Lee reprise their roles as Mace Windu and Count Dooku, but
appear in only a handful of scenes. The only one that kind-of disappointed
me was Tom Kane as Yoda – he sounds nothing like Frank Oz. Given his
limited screentime, and the fact that Oz is not precisely the most occupied
“film star” in the business, it surprised me that they couldn’t hire him but
that they could attract the likes of Lee and Jackson.
Concerning the action sequences, the movie delivers. This is, after all, the
Clone Wars, so any viewer watching the movie should have a right to
expect a handful of war sequences. What I liked about the battle scenes was
that, unlike the war scenes in
Episode II, these ones had a great sense of scale. You could see
that many of the machines are huge, and that the clones are Jedi are tiny
when compared to them. Additionally, I liked that the filmmakers also
inserted some scenes with clones applying their military tactics and
strategies; they are similar to the ones in the microseries, but only in a
lesser amount. Director Dave Filoni also makes use of a couple of “handheld”
shots between the troops and stuff like that that make these scenes feel
more like true war sequences. Additionally, unlike the prequels, the clones
in The Clone Wars have individual personalities, making them
more interesting and easier to root for during the war sequences; I’m sure
they will be further developed in the TV show. It is true, though,
that by the last thirty minutes or so of running time, the battle scenes
start to feel tiresome and repetitive. Considering that the TV episodes will
last about half an hour, I’m sure they will work much better on the small
screen. Nevertheless, I was surprised at the creativity employed in these
scenes. (The vertical assault on the monastery was particularly
cool-looking.)
I know
The Clone Wars has been bashed everywhere and by almost every critic
that has seen it. What I think is that everyone expects the same every time
they decide to watch a Star Wars movie. If there’s no opening crawl,
they will be angry. If the Star Wars themes have been remixed, they
will be angry. If there’s not friggin’ Fox fanfare, they will be angry. For
me, those are really stupid reasons for disliking a movie like The Clone
Wars. Considering it’s basically a pilot for the TV show, and that it
basically tells the story of the many on-going battles of the Clone Wars, it
works. Animation, while not top-notch, is cool-looking; battle sequences are
creative and a lot of fun, and voice acting is not bad at all. If you take
it for what it is, Clone Wars can be a really fun movie; I mean, even
my non-Star Wars-fan girlfriend liked it, and that’s saying a lot.
Now, I only have one question: what’s with that transvestite-looking,
Truman-Capote-sounding Hutt, Ziro? It was pretty awkward, to say the least…
©2008 Sebastián Zavala - Star Wars Epica
