Star Wars: The Clone Wars review!

Does the new animated movie bring justice to one of the best series of films of all time?

I'll say this before I begin...I'm a FAN of the Star Wars franchise...not a FAN BOY of them by any means. I'll be the first person (among many, I'm sure) to tell you that the Phantom Menace completely sucked, I'm talking probably as bad as Spider Man 3 sucked. So this review is not biased at all, nor will I attempt to promote the movie because of my fan-ism.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is not must see material by any means and is probably only reserved for the hardest of die hard fans. The movie didn't even start out with the usual "Star Wars" theme and scrolling dialogue, which was pretty disappointing...but it makes sense because Warner Bros. instead of 20th Century Fox, produced the film.

The film is not all bad, it just lacks material that makes a movie a "Star Wars" movie. There are no really great lightsaber battles, no amazement that anything can pop off at any given moment like the previous 6 films...if you're like me and don't count the Phantom Menace into the trilogies...previous 5 movies had going for them.

I blame George Lucas mainly for this lack of material problem he put himself in...there is a bunch of space between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope" that he could have created a new epic (an animated epic, but an epic no less), but he came out flat. The animated series (short lived) the Clone Wars was done brilliantly following "The Clone Wars" live action movie and bringing it up to the very beginning of "Revenge of the Sith". They really try to cover a new story in this chapter with this movie but fail in doing so as the movie pretty much clashes with the animated TV show that was on for a brief bit...but mind you, 75% of the Star Wars fan base probably never saw an episode of the TV series so Lucas gets a mulligan for trying to hash out the same story line as before. He tried to pull a fast one and probably succeeded.

So right off the bat we know that nothing bad can happen to Obi-Wan (played by, James Arnold Taylor) or Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader (Matt Latner).

This animated feature is done in almost complete cartoonish-computer animation (which gives it the made for TV feel). The writers also try to strike gold by giving Anakin an apprentice, Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein), whose attitude and respect...or lack there of...make her feel like she should be on the Mellinium Falcon with Solo than apart of Jedi.

Anakin and Ahsoka are set off on an official outing to find the missing/kidnapped son of Jabba the Hutt. If they do not find Hutt Jr. in time the Trade Federation will seize control of an important trade route in space. In case you're lost in the completely mind bending and diabolical plot...do not fret because the movie repeats this about a dozen times throughout it's course. You're bound to catch on the fourth or fifth time.

So there you have it...that's the movie...loop after loop...Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It just seems the writers didn't know what type of animated movie they wanted to make...whether it was for the "fan boys"of the franchise to tie them over until, maybe...maybe, they make another movie. Or was it for the younger audience, trying to recruit more "fan boys" to the cause? Either way, it's a failure to what "Star Wars" is.

I will mention a few positives though...the voicing done by the character sound very close to the real characters who played Obi-Wan and Anakin in the trilogies.

I realize what Lucas is trying to do with this movie...lead it up to a new animated series that will be on TV but....why make your loyal fans pay to see what you're going to be putting on television for free?

1.5 out of 5 stars...