THE POPCORN REEL FILM REVIEW/"Star Wars: The Clone Wars"
Returning To A Galaxy Far Far Away, With A War In Progress
By Omar P.L. Moore/August 18, 2008
Jedi apprentice Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein) points to a charted course of imminent danger in Dave Filoni's animated spectacular "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", which opened last Friday across the U.S. and Canada. George Lucas executive produced the film. (Photo/animation: LucasFilm via Warner Brothers)
A thrilling action extravaganza, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is a bright, sharp and exciting story that grabs you from the very start. The anime sci-fi drama centers on the Jedi mission to return Jabba The Hut's son to the father on Planet Tattooine. Anakin Skywalker's Padawan apprentice Ahsoka Tano spends much time saving her mentor from great danger during a mission fraught with peril and a duplicitous scheme by Count Dooku to sabotage the mission, which is more than occasionally fraught with tense action sequences more vivid and powerful than those in some of this summer's biggest feature films.
Dave Filoni's direction of "The Clone Wars" is crisp and the editing by Jason Tucker is sharp and sensational, with Mr. Filoni letting the vigorous parts of the film -- namely the strong stylized action -- breathe. It's rare that an animated film slows down enough to take a breath even when for all the world it is in perpetual motion and it is rarer still that action, whether animated or live, allows us to follow each mini-story in a film without short-changing us or insulting our intelligence. "The Clone Wars" is not only well-executed; it's well worth your time. The animation is pristine, near flawless, offering visuals often more astounding than some of the images in the six live-action feature films George Lucas directed. Mr. Lucas executive produced "The Clone Wars", which is more an adventure for teens than for small children. Mr. Lucas and Mr. Filoni have reintroduced this edition of "Star Wars" and the Cartoon Network cable television series to a new generation of filmgoers, and they reward fans of the feature films as well.
In fact, the greatest testament to "The Clone Wars" is that it is a tremendously effective and seamless transition from "Revenge Of The Sith", Mr. Lucas's 2005 film which closed out the live-action sextet of motion pictures. "Sith" stars Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee voice the animated editions of their respective live-action characters Mace Windu and Count Dooku and are right at home. Other noteworthy characters R2-D2, C-3PO, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda return here and are no less endearing or entertaining. The animation crafted by LucasFilm Animation and LucasFilm Digital, with the perennial assistance of Industrial Light And Magic is a revelation, virtually life-like.
What also makes "The Clone Wars" (which opened this past Friday) a brilliant big screen experience is the story itself. Engaging, exciting and engrossing, audiences are invested in every step, thought and decision made by Anakin, Ahsoka and Amidala -- all of whom face hair-raising predicaments. The new computer-generated film mines some of the back stories of characters merely eyeballed for an instant in the six live-action feature film episodes and to great effect.
If "The Clone Wars" is playing either in digital projection or IMAX at a theater near you, you are best advised to get a ticket and immerse yourself in a planet that may be long ago and far away, but still remains very much as here and now as it was 31 years ago.
Note: The film is written by Henry Gilroy, Steve Melching and Scott Murphy, with the music score by Kevin Kiner.
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for sci-fi action violence throughout, brief language and momentary smoking. The film's duration is one hour and 38 minutes.
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