Rambling Review: Star Wars - The Clone Wars

Warning: This review will contain some spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled then these aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along.

When I first saw a trailer for Star Wars - The Clone Wars I knew I would have to see it. After all, I had been a devotee of the series since it began in 1977. But at the same time I was a little ambivalent because it was an animated feature. It was Star Wars, but not Star Wars.

I was aware of when it was released, but then something unthinkable happened. I forgot about it. I almost totally missed the theatrical run of this latest foray into the Star Wars universe. I was only reminded when I listened to a podcast featuring IndianaJim where the movie was discussed.

Shortly after that I had a day off of work. Since the wife was working and I was on my own, I decided to go see this movie before it disappeared off of the silver screen. I arrived at my early Thursday afternoon showing for the ultimate movie going experience. I had the theater to myself. It was just me, my popcorn, and The Clone Wars. Not surprisingly I discovered that it was Star Wars, and it was not Star Wars.

It's Not Star Wars

The first thing that told me this was not the Star Wars I had grown to expect came at the very beginning of the film. Instead of the 20th Century Fox logo and the fanfare that I have always associated with the Star Wars franchise, the Warner Brothers logo and music ran. I know I am not the only person for whom the 20CF fanfare is considered a part of the experience, since most of the Star Wars soundtracks start with it. This is a small thing, undoubtedly driven by a good business decision, but it was a jarring reminder before the film even started that this was a different beast.

The second thing that told me this was different was the opening of the film. We had the familiar logo disappearing across a field of stars to the strains of the expected music, but then a modern beat was introduced and there was no text following the logo off into the distance. Instead there was a narrator who filled that void, and the music quickly changed away from the familiar to new compositions.

In fact the music was one of the things that told me this was not the same Star Wars I knew. Outside of a few bars at the opening and a short rendition of the traditional closing music at the end, none of John Williams' original scores were used as far as I could tell. I didn't hear Anakin's Theme, the Sith Lord's dark music, and no Duel of the Fates during Obi-Wan's big lightsaber battle. While the music used was not bad, it was not what I had come to expect. John Williams was not the composer for this film, and the music had a totally different feel.

Since I knew the visuals would be different one of the things I was looking forward to in this film was experiencing the Star Wars soundscape again in a movie theater environment. I've been recently listening to a couple Star Wars audio drama podcasts (here and here), and one of the things that make these stories come alive is the sound effects. While the correct sounds were used in the movie, lightsabers sounded like lightsabers and so on, the movie did not have the immersive THX feel that the live action films did. Indeed, I can probably get a better overall sound experience watching one of the older films using my home surround sound system.

I've always enjoyed the feeling of scope the big screen gave me during the space battles on the live action films. It felt as though I was truly there, and that I was inhabiting the same three dimensional space as the combatants. This was one area where the animation process detracted from the overall effect. The space battles seemed rather two dimensional and limited to me. Because of this I did not feel I gained any advantage by seeing this movie in the theater. I believe it would be just as enjoyable on a decent sized TV at home.

It's Star Wars

Even though the visual medium was quite different, they did a good job duplicating the look and feel of the Star Wars universe. The battle droids, shields, tanks, and ships all moved and reacted like they did in the other movies.

Likewise the voices were pretty well done. This is an area that I would have expected to have had big problems with, but I found the voices used for Obi-Wan and Anakin to be perfectly acceptable. I thought the voice used for Yoda was exceptional. It was only after the credits ran that I discovered that of the major characters only Mace Windu, Count Dooku, and C-3PO had their original actors (Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, and Anthony Daniels respectively) provide their voices for this project.

Even though this movie is the precursor for a weekly animated series that will run on Cartoon Network, they stayed away from the normal cartoon stereotypes. I especially thought they did a great job in keeping the familiar brand of Star Wars humor instead of the overdone, campy crud that passed for humor in most cartoons. I hope that they continue this trend in the TV series. I laughed out loud in several places, one of which was when a large group of battle droids decide to retreat. One of them issues the command, and the other hundred or so are all saying "roger, roger" as they scurry to safety. C-3PO was also used to great effect to insert humor that was consistent with what we've seen in the other movies.

Over the years the Star Wars has always shown us things we've never seen before. This movie continued that trend by using the medium of animation to great effect. For example, there was a major battle that occurred while the Jedi were climbing up a sheer cliff to reach components of the droid army. This vertical battle included many different machines, explosions, and dizzying stunts. It was a visually stunning sequence that provided some great action and moved the story forward. While I am sure that with enough time, money, and CGI an equivalent scene could probably be done on a live action film, but it was no doubt much easier to do in this animated format.

The story was pure Star Wars. Set in the time period between The Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the plot took us through levels of cross and double-cross that the live action movies mentioned but could not delve into deeply. The relationship between Anakin and his new padawan learner Ahsoka Tano provided great chemistry, as I've seen in the past between Han and Chewie, Luke and Leia, and C-3PO and R2-D2. Even though he did not direct or write the script, George Lucas' hand could be clearly felt in the storyline for this film.

The End Result

I liked this film. The elements that distracted me from feeling this was a true Star Wars movie were not great enough to spoil my overall enjoyment. The flow of the story, interaction of the characters, visuals, and sound effects enabled me to still accept this movie as an alternate window into the Star Wars universe. On a scale from 1 to 5, I would rate it as a 2.5.

I will be checking out the TV show on Cartoon Network. If you are a fan of the Star Wars movies, I would recommend that you give it a try, too. And let me know what you think.