Ok, I just got home from seeing it. I have to say, it is better than the 27% people are giving it on Rotten Tomatoes.com. The animation isn't out of this world, and it's not a film that will "save" Star Wars. If you go in expecting a movie that will "redeem" Star Wars, you will be sorely disappointed. But I went in with expectations that I would see a bit of continuation of the cartoon, and I was not disappointed. There are the few kiddie moments that will make people who grew up with the original Star Wars groan. But other than that, this is exactly the type of movie you would expect George Lucas to make. In fact, I'd say overall, it was more enjoyable than Episodes I and II. The battle scenes look great, although they still can't really get the lightsabre fighting movements correct. It looks as though they did not use motion actors for the duals, but instead, just "winged it". What I DID like about the movie: the interactions between Ahsoka and Anakin. Anakin seems a lot more mature and the Jedi hero here, instead of the whiny emo guy we got in Episodes II and III. The voice acting was perfect. Kenobi sounds like it was Ewan McGregor, Count Dooku was Christopher Lee, and the voice of Padme Amadala is the same girl who voiced Penelo in Final Fantasy XII. The only one I did not like was Yoda's voice. The battle scenes are pretty damned good, IMHO, and rival anything we've seen in cartoon form. Did I have fun watching it? Hell Yes! If you've enjoyed other stories in the Star Wars universe, either in cartoon form, or comic book form, you owe it to yourself to see this. This is essentially, a comic book story turned into a 2 hour feature length movie. I will take a bit of points off for the bad lightsabre dual animations and the few kiddie moments the film has, but overall, I really liked this movie for what it was - a cartoon set in the Star Wars universe that expands a bit on the cardboard cutout characterizations and cheesy acting from the prequels. If you go in expecting this, you'll have fun. Final Score: B+ I may see it again tonight.
hmm... me and my friends had tickets to see the movie but at the last minute I convinced them that we should sneak into tropic thunder and watch that instead... I'll go see Star Wars eventually.
So wait. Your review is that it is almost as good as "Revenge of the Shit"? That's not very high praise.
Clone Wars is a children's cartoon. If you go in expecting something that will appeal to the sensibilities of a 35+ y/o fanboy, you're going to be disappointed. If you want "serious" sci-fi, go rent 2001: A Space Odyssey.
If people want serious sci-fi, then they should stay away from Star Wars altogether. It's little more than Lord of the Rings IN SPACE. Don't get me wrong, I love the OT, but the only thing it did for science fiction was make it socially legitimate. Serious sci-fi it ain't.
There's no reason that an animated movie geared towards children can't be intelligent enough to appeal to adults. Just look at the Toy Story movies and the Incredibles for examples.
Is it possible? Of course. Is that what Lucas is shooting for? No. Lucas' goal is to cultivate a new generation of fans, and he's doing that by marketing this stuff to kids. Lucas no longer cares what the aging fanboy thinks of the franchise - he figures he's pretty much milked that fanbase for as much as he's going to get (making exceptions for the inevitable high-def release of the six films). The closest that the 35 + y/o fanboy set is going to get to what they want (grim & gritty, R-rated, Dark Knight version of SW) was ROTS. Enjoy the sight of Anakin's roasting flesh and screams of agony, because that's as "adult" as SW is ever going to get under Lucas' supervision. Lucas is thinking of selling toys and DVD's 15 years down the road.
So basically he's taking the easy way out? (way easier to churn out some pap for the kiddies than to try to appeal to adults as well) I'd say that's a very good and justifiable reason that older Star Wars fans are upset.
One of my ongoing issues is the incestuousness of the whole...thing. CW is the latest example- why does this particular story require Jabba the Hutt and a return to Tatooine? There was an opportunity here for a new crime lord/villain, maybe with some cool, challenging underlings, and a whole new planet or setting to see them on. But no. We get Jabba. And Tatooine. AGAIN. Just like we got them in Eps 1 & 2. I'm too bushed right now to get on a big rant, so I'll leave it there. GL has issues.
