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Star Wars: The Clone Wars 7 out of 10 Posted: 08/22/08
Running time: 1:38 MPAA rating: PG (Sci-fi action violence throughout, brief language and momentary smoking. ) Peruvian rating: Apta para Todos
Cast:
(voices) Matt Lanter, James Arnold
Taylor, Ashley Eckstein, Tom Kane, Ian Abercrombie, Catherine Taber,
Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels. |
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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…
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©2008 Sebastián Zavala - Star Wars Epica |
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