I'm sure that if you are a regular reader of this blog (hello to all three of you!) then you have probably been waiting in utter anticipation for me to give my two cents about the new Star Wars animated movie The Clone Wars. Your wait is over. But in the interest of saving you valuable time that you could be using to do something fun or constructive with your life, let me jump right to the chase:
I really liked it.
You may now go about your normal routine. For those of you who actually want to know why I liked it, then stick around and I will tell you.
First of all, this movie is really just an hour and a half set up for the animated TV show that will be premiering on Cartoon Network sometime this fall. But that didn't diminish my enjoyment of it. All too often I think older Star Wars fans are guilty of being critical of newer Star Wars movies such as this one or the prequel trilogy because they didn't make them feel like they did when they were 9 years old and first saw Star Wars. Well, duh. We aren't 9 anymore, so of course your perspective is going to be different. So instead of trying to recapture lost childhood, be open to what these films are trying to do now. All that being said, this movie did come close to making me feel like a kid again.
The movie treads a strange line. On the one hand, it is geared towards a younger audience. A lot of the battle droid humor is designed to make the younger kids laugh. On the other hand, some of the battle scenes are quite realistic and violent, with clone troopers being shot in the head as they "go over the wall" as it were and attack the oncoming battle droids. If my kids were younger such a dichotomy would be bothersome to me, but since my son is now a teenager, he is able to handle the violence and enjoy the humor. Frankly, that is what appealed to me too. I laughed at some of the battle droid humor even though I realize it is kind of goofy and I appreciated the almost gritty realism of the battle scenes. Even the nicknames Anakin's young padawan comes out with didn't really bother me much.
As far as the writing goes, I found it dialogue wise to be almost better than the prequel trilogy. There were a couple of wooden lines of dialogue, but nothing even close to the painful love scenes between Anakin and Padme that we had to endure in the middle of Attack of the Clones. The writers are obviously Star Wars fans and have a good understanding of the characters and a better ear for dialogue than perhaps Mr. Lucas himself has. The plot was decent, nothing earth shattering, but a good enough lead in for the eventual series.
The animation style is quite different as well. This is not the hyper realistic computer animation of recent movies. I have read that George Lucas wanted to go in the style of the old television show Thunderbirds. A show, if you are old enough to remember, where all the characters were marionettes. they have succeeded very well. The characters all have a distinct style and when they are walking almost have a marionette feel to them. However, I was amazed that once the action starts, how fast, smooth and fluid everything looked. There were no jerky movements during the ground battles or during the lightsaber fights. It was different enough to make me eager to see more.
A lot of web sites and "critics" have seemed to be almost chomping at the bit wanting to bash this movie just for the sake of tearing it down. They seem almost jealous of the success Lucas has had with the Star Wars franchise and usually the complaint is that it doesn't seem like it did when they were kids. As I mentioned above, to expect to feel the same way about something 30 years later is idiotic. Quite frankly, these people tend not to be real fans and are looking to just bash on something. Most Star Wars fans will understand what the creators are going for and appreciate it for what it is as well as welcome the chance to have the story of the clone wars filled in further.
So there you have it, one geek's opinion. If you are not much of a Star Wars fan or a casual one at best, you most likely won't enjoy it. But if you are a bit more hardcore in your fandom, as I am, then I suspect that, like me, you will find a lot of fun and enjoyment in this movie and will eagerly anticipate the TV show.
That's it for now, gang. Until next time, May the Force be with you!
