New on DVD Nov 10 2008 @ 09:08 am
REVIEW: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Directed By: Dave Filoni
Written By: Henry Gilroy, Steven Melching, Scott Murphy
Starring: Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein
Running Time: 98 minutes
Rated PG for sci-fi action violence throughout, brief language and momentary smoking
This review was originally published August 18th, 2008.
Here’s a little-known fact: Jabba the Hutt has a flamboyantly gay uncle. His name is Ziro the Hutt (voiced by Corey Burton), and he lives on the metropolis planet of Coruscant, where he sits around being fanned by handsome men and talking like Truman Capote. This is the sort of thing you’ll learn from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and frankly, it’s tidbits like this that keep the film from being the huge waste of time it should have been. I’m sure most critics will lambast it for being ham-handed, spurious, and silly, but frankly, they’re missing the point. The Clone Wars isn’t essential by any means, and it admittedly has some problems, but who cares? It’s a lot of fun.
Ziro the Hutt...looking fabulous!
The Clone Wars is a fully computer animated film, the first production of the newly-created Lucasfilm Animation, and functions as the lead-in to the future Cartoon Network series of the same name. I’m not entirely sure the whole thing is at all necessary, since there was already a (cel-animated) Cartoon Network series called Star Wars: Clone Wars, but who am I to judge? If Lucas likes his Clone Wars, I say, let him have ‘em. In any case, the most recent Star Wars trilogy (episodes I-III) was almost entirely computer animated anyway, so this makes pretty good sense. The only difference here is that the stiff, wooden actors have been replaced by stiff, wooden CGI characters. (You’ll hardly even notice.)
Story-wise, this takes place between episodes II and III. I’m not going to try terribly hard to parse it all out, since the prequels have the most convoluted of storylines — the sort that only the most hardcore of Star Wars fanboys claim to understand (and even they are lying). It goes something like this, though: Obi-wan Kenobi (voice of James Arnold Taylor) and Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) are fighting in the Clone Wars against the proto-Evil Empire (which consists of a rebellious count, a mysterious guy in a cloak, and a bunch of robots). In order to gain access to “trade routes,” the bad guys have kidnapped the son of Jabba the Hutt (Kevin Michael Richardson) and are attempting to frame the Jedi for the act. Yoda (Tom Kane) and Obi-wan have assigned Anakin a padawan (i.e., a Jedi-in-training) — a girl named Ashoka (Ashley Eckstein) — and the two of them have to rescue little Rotta the Huttlet.
Ashoka and Anakin...I love these guys.
If that didn’t make sense to you, it’s not really worth figuring out, so don’t bother. The whole thing is rubbish, of course — but in that sense, it’s no worse than the previous three Star Wars films. We all may as well face it — the whole idea behind all three of the prequels was misguided from the beginning. The fall of Anakin Skywalker and the rise of the Evil Empire make for a fascinating back-story to the original trilogy, but they fall apart when asked to stand on their own as entertainment. By way of example, would anyone be interested in reading an entire novel about Jean Valjean stealing a loaf of bread, and then languishing in prison for a couple decades? Or would you watch a play about Hamlet’s uncle killing his father? Not so much, right?
Mmm, yes. Stylized, I will be.
Of course we could argue about that until the wampas come home, but the point is this: as long as Lucas is focused on the pre-Imperial years of the Star Wars universe, he’s going to make comparatively inferior entertainment. This is simply a fact, and exactly how inferior you think it is will be determined by your level of fanboy-ness. I personally am a Star Wars fan, in the sense that I represent what the phrase “Star Wars fan” would have meant in the 1980’s — in other words, I like the original trilogy. I’ve never read any of the books, and I’ve never been overly impressed by any of the myriad videogames (frankly, I wish LucasArts would get back to making Monkey Island sequels). I never felt the need to see any of episodes I-III more than once. But — and this surprised me somewhat — I still had a lot of fun with The Clone Wars.
This appeal is largely due to a surprisingly strong sense of visual style (and in fact, this is the main reason that Lucas has cited for this theatrical debut). The whole thing is computer generated, but everything looks like it was painted on canvas. This gives it almost a stop-motion effect, but the sharp angles and smooth lines grant it an anime-esque dynamism and immediacy. Combined with an expressive palette, it makes Star Wars: The Clone Wars a feast for the senses (even if John William’s bombastic score has been mostly replaced with some generic rock guitars).
Obi-wan Kenobi, morphing into a Super Saiyan
The occasional wink at the audience doesn’t hurt either, and there are numerous nods and nudges, such as the aforementioned Ziro, who is nothing short of hilarious. There are other bits as well, such as the vaguely cute Rotta the Huttlet and the snarky (if somewhat banal) repartee between Anakin and Ashoka. (Also, those annoying Trade Federation battle droids have been turned into goofy comic relief, which is what they always should have been.) This is all proof of what can happen when Lucas (who is credited here as executive producer) takes his lead fist out of the proceedings a bit and lets his cohorts have some fun. Often, the lame dialogue weighs things down (”This could be a rough landing!”), but seriously — this is poetry compared to anything in the last three films.
All in all, the visual flourish (and there is much of it) is far and away the best aspect of the film — and as far as I’m concerned, it’s worth the price of admission by itself (even if it relies a bit too heavily on motion capture). To those who hold Star Wars sacred, I guess this will be another insult, but to those of us who know it was never really worth taking seriously anyway, it’s a fun ride.
on Aug 18 2008 @ 2:16 pm 1. Evan Derrick said …
“The only difference here is that the stiff, wooden actors have been replaced by stiff, wooden CGI characters. (You’ll hardly even notice.)”
Best. Line. Ever.
on Aug 18 2008 @ 3:06 pm 2. Collin Geldmeier said …
seriously. the monkey island games were incredible!!!
on Aug 18 2008 @ 3:14 pm 3. Evan Derrick said …
I can actually play most of the Monkey Island games on my Nintendo DS using a homebrew application. It is awesome.
on Aug 18 2008 @ 3:26 pm 4. Sam Juliano said …
The Juliano family: Lucille, Melanie, Sammy, Danny, Jillian and Jeremy LOVED Star Wars. So my opinion doesn’t mean shit, even though I didn’t see it with them.
I like the way you conveyed the allure of the visual style and flourish. You have really been on a roll as of late with superb writing.
on Aug 18 2008 @ 3:49 pm 5. Luke Harrington said …
Collin — I know, right? It blows my minds that LucasArts fell so far from the heights of creativity to being “George’s Star Wars Game Factory.” Grrr. (But if you’re into point ‘n click adventures, you should check out the new Strong Bad game on WiiWare.)
Thanks for the love, Evan and Sam. I was hoping to convey my appreciation for the (intermitently frustrating) visuals. After a week at the office, there was just something magical about being able to sit front and center in a mostly-deserted theater and just let myself get lost in the eyecandy-filled wonderland. Not a great film by any means, but it certainly made my week.
on Aug 18 2008 @ 4:14 pm 6. G said …
Yeah, despite all it’s flaws, this movie was fun…like a root canal.
Maybe it would have seemed fun if I hadn’t seen the original cartoon, but I doubt it.
on Aug 18 2008 @ 4:14 pm 7. Paul said …
Good review. I’ve seen all the others, so I might as well check this out too.
on Aug 18 2008 @ 4:20 pm 8. joel said …
Is it just me or does the image titled “Ashoka and Anakin…I love these guys.” look distinctly like a still from an old Thunderbirds movie? Which leads me to wonder what would have happened had Matt Stone and Trey Parker written and directed this film?
“TA-TOO-INE – F*CK YEAH!”
on Aug 18 2008 @ 6:02 pm 9. Luke Harrington said …
G, I read your review immediately after posting this one. One of the most entertaining things I’ve seen in a while.
Joel, from what I’ve read, the similarity to Thunderbirds was at least partially intentional. (Maybe for our next theme month, we should do “Movies Inspired by Thunderbirds.)
Paul, I’m in the minority in terms of recommending the film, but as long as you’re not expecting anything other than a Saturday morning cartoon, you should be pleased.
on Aug 18 2008 @ 7:02 pm 10. G said …
A long saturday morning cartoon Paul. A long one. Like, long enough to have many regrets about paying.
On the other hand, Truman Capote the Hut makes the last 20 minutes worth watching. But that’s probably not enough to make the whole film tolerable.
on Aug 18 2008 @ 9:31 pm 11. Joseph said …
Then again, Luke, Hutts are hermaphrodites after all.
on Aug 19 2008 @ 8:46 am 12. Luke Harrington said …
Yeah, I think I heard that somewhere…but if it’s true, it just makes the joke even more absurd — which is awesome.
Speaking of your fanboyness, is there a reason that Expanded Universe hasn’t been updated since April? Did you give up on ol’ George?
on Aug 19 2008 @ 3:10 pm 13. Joseph said …
After the Legacy of the Force series I’m pretty much burned out on Star Wars for a while. And there really hasn’t been that much to blog about lately.
on Aug 21 2008 @ 1:10 am 14. Thadd Harrington said …
I just thought I’d come in with some perhaps slightly fan-boyish knowledge. The original Clone Wars cartoon show was lame, the drawing/animation was terrible and the episodes were five minutes long, consequently they were solving conflicts before said conflicts were really introduced. Although some good things came out of it (such as the fleshing out of Grievous and Dooku’s characters) it was ultimately a waste of everyone’s time. But it was only meant to be an experiment to see if they could make money off a Star Wars cartoon show. They found out they could, and hence the upcoming remake.
By the way, Luke and everybody else who wished for more Monkey Island games, be careful what you wish for, or we might just end up with a prequel trilogy.
on Aug 21 2008 @ 8:37 am 15. Luke Harrington said …
You make a good point. The fall of LeChuck could potentially be as annoying as the fall of Anakin. *Shudder.*
I admit I’ve never seen the original show, but it was critically acclaimed and it even won an Emmy. Are you sure it sucked as much as you think it did, Thadd?
on Aug 21 2008 @ 9:10 am 16. Joseph said …
I really liked it and think it’s much better than the Clone Wars film. It’s pretty short overall, so you should pick up a copy (2 seperate volumes)
on Aug 21 2008 @ 9:40 am 17. Evan Derrick said …
Even though Thadd and I have bonded over our mutual admiration for The Rundown, I’ll have to disagree with him on the cartoon. Gennedy Tartakovsky was in charge of it (he’s the one behind the brilliant cartoon masterpiece Samurai Jack), and I can understand if you don’t like his style, but he is obviously talented. You could call him the J.J. Abrams of the cartooning world.