Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) User Reviews (312)

Damn good...if you know what you're getting into.

[on_the_can · 7/10 · 16 August 2008]

This film is gonna have two sets of detractors. One set will be of people dying to see George Lucas crash and burn because they didn't like the prequels. The other will be people who, regardless of their feelings about the previous movies will enter with an ill conceived expectation for a great story. The rest of you, like me will have a blast watching this thing.

This movie is basically an extended pilot for a soon to premiere animated series and it plays as such. We are introduced to our characters, some new and some old and watch them set out on missions that take them through hair raising battle after hair raising battle. There is no conclusion, yet no cliff hanger, just a solitary mission, another day in the lives of Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi. In other words, no attempt at any great earth shattering plot, just a lot of good solid action and fun. Whether or not the TV series will develop more complicated story arcs and sub plots is only known by its creators right now, but its the simplicity that works here. I went into this movie expecting nothing but big action, cool characters and a slick look, and that's exactly what I got. The heart of the Star Wars franchise has always been its fun, and this is a cartoon...they're taking advantage of the opportunity to take the explosive larger than life elements of the films and skew them to an altered animated reality...which is what makes cartoons worth watching.

I loved the design of the whole thing too. It is very graphic and unique and I can understand that it may not be everyone's cup of tea but for me it's a great look. In a time when movie theaters are saturated with CG animated fair, many of which are so concerned with out doing one another with their increasingly real skin textures and bump mapping, it's refreshing to see a film that wants to be different. If you want something to look real, you might as well get a camera. For those of you who thought this graphic simplistic look was some kinda time/money saver, give yourself a shake, they wanted it to look this way. And if you're an animator like myself...take note.

Bottom line, you're not gonna walk out of this movie a different person, and its not gonna win any awards...but it's a hell of a lot of fun.

A uniquely styled, new direction for a well-established formula

[halodarkly · 7/10 · 17 August 2008]

I went to see "The Clone Wars" with carefully measured expectations, given the very, very mixed critical reaction. Although I say "critical", it's always best to remember that angry nerds with broadband are not film critics. But even the venerable and generally even-handed Roger Ebert didn't have much good to say about it.

After the strange feeling of seeing the "Warner Bros" logo and hearing "As Time Goes By" in place of the Fox logo and fanfare, the film gets off to an inauspicious start - a rendition of John Williams' Star Wars Main Theme played by The London Philharmonic's cheapest non-union Mexican equivalent. And instead of the opening crawl, we get a montage and voice-over in a 1930s serial style. This will probably work well in the TV series, and there's nothing wrong with it, but seems strangely out of place in the cinema. This may be just because the traditional Star Wars crawl is so ingrained in film-goers minds, but it was an undeniable jolt. But from that point forward it gets better.

Visually it's like nothing I've ever seen - instead of the style of CGI animation that we're now used to, the characters are made to look something like hand-painted wooden puppets. In a close-up shot you can actually see the brush strokes where the clone troopers have been "painted." It's a brave creative decision, given that Pixar, Dreamworks and others have had such great success with the more traditional style of CG animation, to take such a different direction. After I became accustomed to it, I really liked it. The animation has good "weight" to it - nothing ever suffers from the disconnected CGI unreality that often plagues the digital effects in live-action films (including 2002's "Attack of the Clones"). The environments are amazingly well realised, including a hand-painted sky which conjures up a nice balance between traditional and CG animation.

Sonically, it's Star Wars all the way. All the classic sounds are there (lightsabers, blasters, walkers and so on) and are well orchestrated to the action. Musically, they've gone some way to doing what I had hoped they might - using John Williams' themes, but taken in a new direction. There's a much more pronounced world music feel, and I really enjoyed that. When the score moves to a full orchestral piece, it sometimes falls a little flat. But it certainly serves its purpose, with only the main theme pulling me out of the moment.

Plot-wise... well, it's Star Wars. There's a MacGuffin that must be found and returned to gain a tactical advantage in the war. Any further discussion of the plot would probably be wasted... and not just to avoid spoilers - it's all about the action. So... is there action? Oh, yes. Quite a lot of it. Too much, in fact. As a TV series in 30 minute installments, it should be amazing. But welded into one feature-length adventure, it's a bit overpowering. The visual inventiveness helps hold interest as yet another battle unfolds, but the fact that it's essentially 3 or 4 episodes joined together does show. Not enough to make it a bad film... but when the end comes it *seems* to be an anti-climax purely because there's been no let-up for the previous 30 minutes. As such, the end seems to arrive very suddenly. Had it been structured a little more like a feature, it might have managed a better finale. But, taken on its own merits, the action is very well realised.

The new, kid-oriented character of Ahsoka is not particularly annoying - and that's about as much as you can ask from the this sort of character. Aged above 15, I'm not the target audience for Ahsoka's rite of passage story. Jabba's son is virtually inanimate... barely a character at all. Jabba the Hutt's uncle Ziro is bizarre - a sort of tattooed, New Orleans drag queen in huge slug form - but neither particularly annoying nor offensive as some reviewers have claimed. A kind of Vivien Leigh-as-Blanch DuBois (or maybe Truman Capote) to the Sydney Greenstreet-inspired Jabba.

Overall, this is a good, fun animated adventure with excellent action sequences, that works well despite some pacing issues. It deserves credit for developing its own unique visual style, and daring to take liberties with a well-established franchise. In the end, its this willingness to challenge that much-loved formula that will provoke the ire of many a middle-aged Star Wars fan, as they clutch their Millennium Falcon scale replicas to their portly man-bosoms. But it may find more favour with the newer generation of fan who have less attachment to the memory of what they think they saw in a cinema, and a childhood, a long, long time ago.

Mixed feelings about the movie.

[Zombie-Kermit · 5/10 · 13 August 2008]

Fan buzz has been very negative for this movie. Myself, I have tried to remain positive. But even I, as a very lenient movie watcher has to admit that this really wasn't great. It's not on par with any of the other six movies of the franchise. It wasn't all bad though, and I will tell you what was good and bad about it now.

The animation was a real mixed bag. It had great backgrounds that looked almost like they were taken right out of the movies, then you have these very poorly designed characters. As much as I liked most of the designs on everything but the characters themselves, I couldn't help looking at the animation like a beautiful painting with poo smeared in some spots. You can look at the painting, but it's hard to enjoy it when you can't take your eyes off the poo. It takes away from the potentially awesome animation. They look plastic and stiff, and the facial expressions and lip syncing look like something from a Playstation game from 1999. The voice acting was pretty bad as well, although Christopher Lee did and alright job, and Matt Lanter had a lot more emotion in his voice acting than Hayden had in the entire role.

The dialogue was about as bad as can be. The exchanges between Anakin and his apprentice were all cliché and boring. Not to mention almost all the droids were like copies of Jar Jar Binks. A main problem was that I thought this would focus more on action than it did. That's why I felt all that lame childish stuff wouldn't matter. But it was mostly discussing the problems and treaties and stuff, which was the last thing this movie needed. There was a fair bit of action, but even when they were having awesome lightsaber duals, they felt the need to stop every 4 seconds and talk about stuff that I didn't need to hear, such as why they were having the battle. I wanted to see lightsaber duals on a level that they couldn't manage in a live action movie, and they did not deliver in this way. A lot of the other action was pretty good though, some being very fast moving and intense.

The storyline really didn't consist of much.... just people trying to get Jabba the Hutt on their side, basically. This is not a movie that I think many old Star Wars fans will enjoy, but it may be a movie that helps introduce new people to the franchise, which is always a good thing. This is definitely a movie for the younger audiences, not older people and film critics. It basically just felt like a long TV Show episode, which is basically all it was. It was good for a TV episode, but not for a movie. If the action is as good in the series as it was in the movie (and hopefully there will be more), then I will be looking forward to it. But if they release another movie that looks to be at this level, I will have to wait until DVD.

Silly people...it's a cartoon

[Paynemanor · 7/10 · 20 August 2008]

Yes, the opening intro without JW's music or the crawl was a HUGE mistake. (The voice over did make me cringe..ugh!) Yes, the human characters looked freakin bizarre (Kenobi's beard looked like a wood carving) and they should have gone with a more realistic look instead of the pointless style they used.

And yes, the story was pretty childish for a feature film aimed at adults...But that's the thing. This is an opener for a TV cartoon. It was not intended to blend right into the live action franchise. My kids liked it just fine, and I was not offended at all by it. In fact the action scenes were quite impressive. We finally get to see enough clone/droid mayhem to make people complain that it's too much (meaning almost enough clone/droid mayhem for me:) You guys are like a bunch of spoiled kids. Luke, Han, & Co. are NEVER coming back! Some day someone will probably do a series of re-makes or spin-offs that will have a more serious tone, and I agree that the franchise really needs that. But it won't happen while George is at the wheel. So if your going to get suicidal every time George cranks out one of his Disney-phase projects...Just stay away from it. It's not worth the stress.

Definitely not in the league of the other 6 films...

[spdyeric · 7/10 · 10 August 2008]

I went to go see a special screening today at 1:00 at the Mainside theater in Camp Pendleton. My little brothers, 5 and 4, were very excited because they are huge Star Wars fans. I guess you could say I was excited too. Well, I did not know what I was going to expect, since this was the first animated Star Wars. First I must say this was not as grandeur as the other Star Wars, but I am pretty sure that it wasn't meant to be. And I know that this movie is going to kick off the new 100 episode cartoon. I was a little disappointed that they had new voice overs such as the one for Kenobi and Skywalker, however the new voice over for Kenobi is hard to tell that it is different. For Anakin, however, I did not think that there could be a more annoying voice than Hayden Christensen. YOu actually are going to miss Christen's voice. But I tried to not pay attention to that, which was very distracting, and focus on the whole picture, the plot. In my opinion, the plot was too simplistic for a Star Wars film because the whole entire movie is about Anakin and his new padawan, I forget her name, trying to rescue Jabba the Hutt's son. Thats it. Kenobi and Yoda are barely in the film. I loved the fight scenes and the ones at the end definitely pulled the movie up. And the grand scale scenes were pretty impressive. I wasn't too impressed with some the humor they tried to pull off. I mean some of the slapstick comedy sucked so bad that I almost wanted to leave ethe theater. there were some humorous moments that actually made me chuckle a bit but most of the comedy was meant for kids younger than 10 years old. Great movie for the little kids and people that are going to watch the TV series but you need to be a true Star Wars fan to love this movie.

I have nothing good to say about this movie.

[mpcaulfield · 1/10 · 15 August 2008]

This movie fails on every level. It begins with, I kid you not, the announcer from The Powerpuff Girl's voice replacing the opening crawl we've come to know and love, presumably because the target audience, American children, can't read at even that glacial pace. I don't know if it's even necessary at this point to say something as redundant as "this movie has a horrible script and stiff acting;" that's just something we've come to expect with Star Wars in the last decade. But even the battle sequences aren't enjoyable. Star Wars used to be the cutting edge in visual effects; apparently the makers of this movie haven't the ways in which computer animation have advanced in the last decade. The character animations in this movie are worse than the average video game. The movie has off-putting pacing, packing too much into the first half, and dragging in the second. Everything that was supposed to be funny was a dud, and everything that was supposed to be serious garnered unwelcome guffaws from the audience. I have nothing good to say about this movie.

The consensus seems to be that it's not fair to compare it to the real Star Wars movies because it's intended for kids. That's just the thing though; I don't want Star Wars to become something that I have to put my brain on ice to enjoy from now on. A long time ago, George Lucas was capable of putting out material that kids and adults could both enjoy, that fanboys and the casual moviegoer could both enjoy, and no one would have to suspend their sensibilities to have a good time. That's what I want back.

A decent animated addition to the 'Star Wars' franchise

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 21 January 2023]

The action in this animated film takes place sometime after that depicted in 'Attack of the Clones'. The war between The Republic and Count Dooku's droid army is still raging and both sides want access to the space controlled by Jabba the Hutt. When Jabba's young son is kidnapped the Jedi decide their cause will be helped if they are the ones to rescue him. Obi-Wan and Anakin are to lead the mission; they will be accompanied by Ahsoka Tano, a Padawan apprentice who Yoda has entrusted to Anakin.

This may not be the greatest addition to the 'Star Wars' franchise but I thought it was rather fun. The action is solid from start to finish meaning one can easily overlook some of the film's flaws. With the exception of Ahsoka Tano there aren't many new characters. No time is wasted reintroducing old characters; it is clear that the makers expect the viewers to have seen the preceding films. Ahsoka is a fun addition to the cast; I liked how her relationship with Anakin developed throughout the film. There are some weak points; the character designs took a little getting used to and I could have done without the 'amusingly' incompetent droid army... of course it is easy to forget that a key part of the 'Star Wars' audience has always been the fairly young. The voice acting is impressive; some characters kept their voice actors from the live action prequels but most didn't and the new cast sound like the originals. Overall I thought this was a decent addition to the franchise although I suspect it will appeal most to younger fans.

It's as if they've intentionally made it bad.

[compel_bast · 2/10 · 16 August 2008]

I tried to open minded about this film when I first went to the cinema, determining that "I'm a star wars fan, and no matter how bad it is, it's still Star Wars."

That feeling lasted about um... a second and a half from the start of the film. It started off fine with the, "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away." I smiled, prepared myself for the classic theme and it... never came. I had been told it was 'remixed' beforehand, but I was expecting something not too different, the new composer didn't even keep the first 4 notes.

Then we move onto the 'Opening Crawl' - which didn't exist. Another staple of Star Wars, even found in the games, gone, poofed completely. It was replaced with a narrator speaking over a kind of WW2 'news reel'. A few minutes into it and already the film has lost all its feel of being Star Wars, by no doubt intentional design decisions. In my book, if the writers/directors/producers etcetera intentionally changed something, and it turned out badly, it's still bad.

It got worse, the opening battle could have potentially been something good and enjoyable to watch, instead it was as if it had been played in fast forward, I could almost imagine the 'Benny Hill' theme being played in the background.

Admittedly, I was a bit biased towards the 'art style' before hand so I thought, if I'm going to write a review on it, I'll avoid mentioning it as it would be rather unfair and not truly neutral. So I will avoid commenting on it except to say, that it gets worse. When Supreme Chancellor Palpatine walked into a scene, his style was seemed to be entirely based on a... bobble-head toy. There is 'stylised' drawing (which I would define by the early 1990's Batman cartoons) and then there's 'caricature' - Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I felt was the latter. Additionally, the animation was jerky, possibly as a reference to the 'Thunderbirds' puppets. In my opinion, it didn't work, it just made it look even worse.

The film is a children's oriented film, and I'm perfectly happy to accept that. In honesty, this was the strongest part of the film. The new Padawan was someone that children could enjoy watching and identify with. There was even some humour involving her and "Stinky the Hutt" that could be enjoyed by the little 'uns. However, I think in trying to appeal to children, they actually managed to make the dialogue even worse than Attack of The Clones and going on to insult the intelligence of the kids in the audience to boot. A typical conversation, which was repeated several times in the films follows.

Character A: "Jabba the Hutts son has been kidnapped." Character B: "The Jedi Order must go and rescue Jabba the Hutts son." Character A: "If the Seperatists rescue Jabba the Hutts son first we'll lose the war." Character A: "Then it's agreed, we must rescue Jabba the Hutts son from being kidnapped."

While this conversation was on-going (and going, and going), the characters tones would randomly change from low to high to low again. I believe, when Obi-wan was speaking, this was an attempt to copy his voice from episode III, it didn't work. The only character that avoided this was the Padawan, Ashkoja, which, truth be told, made her scenes are more watchable than any others.

Finally, a good word about it, scenes that didn't have any characters in them, for example space and 'landscape' scenes did look particularly good and demonstrate the potential for how enjoyable the film COULD have been. However, due to several strange, strange design decisions that seemed only to have been changed for the sake of being changed, I would recommend against even renting this film. If you must see it, wait for it to come on television.

A fun addition to the Star Wars collection

[cox_gang · 7/10 · 11 August 2008]

I saw this movie yesterday at an early preview, and we took our two boys along with us. We found it to be a fun movie, full of action and more than able to keep our kids' attention. The movie itself jumps right into the Star Wars world without any sort of background information, so those who aren't familiar with Star Wars may be a bit lost at first (the movie takes place somewhere in between Episodes II and III). However, the action is immediate and the story moves along well. There were moments of humor with the battle droids, whose vocabulary has been greatly expanded. With a few exceptions, most of the major characters are obviously voiced by different people than in the original movies (though the actor voicing Obiwan was good--we thought it actually was Ewan McGregor), but overall the movie was enjoyable, especially for the younger set.

Adventures in Hutt-Sitting

[keiichi73 · 1/10 · 15 August 2008]

So, it has come to this. I think it's safe to say that The Clone Wars pretty much flattens any last shred of credibility that the Star Wars franchise may have held. The disappointing prequel trilogy gave us warning signs that all was not well in LucasLand. This disappointingly shallow, dull, and unneeded side story all but rams the point home.

The solitary purpose of The Clone Wars is to introduce a new animated TV series that will be debuting on the Cartoon Network later this year. Now kids will be able to follow the further adventures of Obi-Wan Kenobi (voice by James Arnold Taylor) and Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter), set chronologically between Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. But, hold on a minute. Did executive producer George Lucas or anyone else involved with the project realize just how pointless this idea is? We've seen the original trilogy, we've seen the prequel trilogy. We pretty much know what's going to happen to the characters, since their fates have pretty much been public knowledge for about 30 years now. It's a core problem in the movie as well. When Anakin faces down the evil Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) late in the film, the fight seems completely needless, since we hold advance knowledge that the characters do not.

The story can best be described as a very basic and shallow hook to hang a seemingly endless string of interminable space dogfight battles, and lightsabre duels. Jabba the Hutt's infant son, Rotta, is kidnapped by mysterious assailants. The kidnappers are working under the devious Dooku, who plans to use the baby Hutt to frame the Jedi, leading Jabba to believe that they are responsible for the abduction. Obi-Wan and Anakin already have their hands full battling the evil droid army that is spreading out across the galaxy, and now they must track down the young creature before the Hutt clan declares war against the Jedi and the Republic. While Obi-Wan and the clone soldiers try to hold off the advancing armies, Anakin, along with his young Padawan apprentice Ahsoaka Tano (Ashley Eckstein), must try to return Rotta to his proper home. Call it Adventures in Hutt-Sitting.

The Clone Wars literally starts with a bang, throwing us directly into the middle of a battle with little explanation, other than a hastily-spoken narration voice over that sounds like it was read by a game show announcer. From there, the characters are briefly re-introduced to us in the thick of battle. Once the situation with the missing baby Hutt is established, the movie literally never slows down. It's one exhausting fight scene or action sequence after another as Anakin and Ahsoaka race across the galaxy to reach the planet Tatooine, as they're pursued by various aliens, droids, and whatever else the filmmakers feel like throwing in. It doesn't take long for the movie to start to resemble a hyper-active video game, as it never slows down long enough to allow the characters to do anything but run and shoot at things. But then, given the wooden dialogue on display, maybe it's a good thing. While the actual Star Wars films were not exactly known for their dialogue, I have to admit I choked on my soda just a little when I heard Anakin's new Padawan refer to him affectionately as "Sky-guy".

It's quite clear that the main appeal of the original films were the special effects, not to mention the imaginative worlds and creatures. So then why does The Clone Wars look no better than the stuff you see in a Saturday morning cartoon? I know, the movie is intended to be a launching point for one, but that doesn't explain how cheap everything looks here. The characters suffer from a very shiny and "plastic" look that makes them look more like animated action figures than actual people inhabiting the story. The hair on the characters don't even move. It's molded and painted onto their heads, kind of like a Ken doll. I'm also still trying to figure out the filmmakers' decision to give everyone such limited facial movement, making the entire cast look like they just received a massive Botox implant. I didn't believe for a second that I was watching a genuine story, or even a continuation of the Star Wars universe. I felt like I was listening to a bad fanfiction story written by a fanboy hopped up on way too much caffeine, acted out by poorly rendered video game characters.

Unless you're the most forgiving fanatic of the franchise to walk this green Earth, or are under 10-years-old, there is absolutely nothing appealing to be found within The Clone Wars. It's nothing but a lot of noise and explosions that assault the senses for 100 minutes, then leaves you walking out of the theater with no real thoughts or impressions. It's not even enjoyable in one ear and out the other entertainment. I'm sure the TV series will probably be no different, but at least you won't have to pay to watch it. You can also change the channel, something I wished I could have done many times watching this film.

Why The Hatred? This Is Awesome...

[soundwave010 · 9/10 · 22 September 2008]

Having realised that this would be the only Star Wars film I hadn't seen on the big screen, I casually decided to get some showing times from my regular cinema only to discover that it had been pulled due to lack of interest; I eventually managed to find a showing - the last showing in the West Midlands - and, having not been exposed to the critical lambasting this film received, went in as a Tabula Rasa, not really expecting anything one way or the other.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this film is, in fact, excellent: far pacier, punchier and edgier than the entire prequel trilogy combined, it surprised me further by being solidly scripted, with moments of true brilliance - the relationship between Anakin and accidental Padawan Ahsoka is refreshingly written (a woman in Star Wars who isn't a two-dimensionally written walking stereotype 'damsel in distress' with appalling dialogue; I haven't seen that since 1987!)and reminiscent of the 'buddy comedy' elements of the original (Episodes IV-VI) trilogy that existed between Luke, Han, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian; the action sequences (which constitute the majority of the film) are breathtaking, breakneck and frequently pay their dues to classic war films. The opening Clone Trooper assault pays homage to Saving Private Ryan's introductory onslaught, while a later gunship assault tributes Predator by way of Full Metal Jacket ("Welcome to paradise, rock-jumpers!!"). The film is permeated by many sequences and references that will go whistling over the heads of its supposedly younger audience; it also has something that has also been missing from Star Wars for some time: a genuine sense of humour - witness the repartee between the Battle Droids throughout the film as a solid example of this.

The animation isn't as bad as many have claimed: it's stripped back, beautifully stylised and won't date as badly as the likes of Beowulf by virtue of that fact; unfortunately, this film has been pulled from most theatres, so it's too late to come out in solidarity at the eleventh hour, but the DVD is due for release on the 8th of December. Finally, although this film only took around $100 million dollars worldwide, it cost a paltry $8.5 million to make. Once more, Lucas is laughing all the way to the bank.

Sky-Guy, Stinky and Snips

[Norway1 · 7/10 · 18 August 2008]

I took my kids, ages 6, 9 and 11 to see this. With that in mind, here's my take, based on their reaction and my own experience.

My background is: I saw SW on the big screen back in 1977 and have been a fan ever since. Today I am a member of the Star Wars fan club (Hyperspace, on sw official site) and follow along with SW news, buy the video games and novels, and have a VAST collection of the toys (invested over $5,000 I'm sure - but hey, I have kids!). So I suppose you could say I am a "fanboy" or at the very least a more than average fan. :) I knew this was being made for television - NOT for the big screen - and thus viewed it as a pilot for a "made for kids" (Nick or CN) television series. With the budget and baggage that implies.

With that background, and thanks to some scathing reviews (AICN Harry, CHUD, etc.) my expectations were phenomenally low before entering the theater. (Basically, I was just watching this for the kids' sake because they were begging me to take them.) Verdict: It was actually pretty good! Yes, there were parts that sucked, there were even a few things I hated (just like there were in the prequels and ROTJ), but for the most part, I was very impressed and even blown away by the shear scope of this made-for-TV movie! I couldn't believe the quality (again, for a TV-show). It was funny, exciting, even engaging at times. And considering the budget and target audience, it was really very good.

Here's what didn't work for me:

1) As much as I tried, I really didn't like the new teen-padawan, Ahsoka. She was annoying and imo inconsistent with the established rules for Jedi: They are always (Anakin being the sole exception) enlisted as infants or toddlers. They grow up being indoctrinated by Jedi teachings. They learn respect, humility, patience, etc as "younglings" long before being assigned to a Master. Thus Ahsoka's rebellious high-school attitude is very much askew.

2) The bantering may have been OK, but the pathetic (American High-School style) nicknames got old REAL fast. Not one single time did Ahsoka call Anakin by his real name (Skywalker or even Anakin). It was always "Sky Guy" - complete disrespect! I can't recall one single time Anakin referred to Ahsoka by her name either (though a friend of mine disagrees), he was always calling her "Snips"! WTF? And the final straw was them both constantly referring to Jabba's son as "Stinky". All. The. Time. (Just thinking of it raises my blood pressure.)

That's pretty much what I hated. There were some other very minor annoyances, but easily forgotten in the big picture. Now, here's what really worked:

1) Beautiful animation. I dig the style. I've read lots of reviews that diss on the animation and even on the style. While I agree that the characters look like they've been chiseled out of wood and hand-painted, I really liked it. Yes, the quality is no where near as good as Pixar or Dreamworks, (and close-up shots look more like a video game cut scene than a movie,) but this was MADE FOR TELEVISION! The budget was probably about a tenth what any Pixar film costs to make. So put it in perspective and appreciate what they can do with such a low budget! It would be more fair to compare it to an episode of Jimmy Neutron (not the movie, the TV show). If you still think it sucks, then at least you are making a valid comparison. It's not Shrek 2 or The Incredibles. It's Hoodwinked.

2) The music! So many have complained that "This is not John Williams" but why does that have to be a bad thing? Williams' music was respected, and even used in the opening and closing sequences, plus a few times between. The music was GREAT! It was engaging and beautiful, and at times had me wanting to hear the rest of the song! Seriously, I can't imagine it being any better. It baffles my mind that people can complain about it. Really. I don't get it.

3) The Clones. We see clones as Imperial (um, I mean Republic) officers, wearing the green officer garb (woo hoo!), and the ground troops showing ways of making themselves unique (mostly by tattoos and haircuts). It's just as it should be and makes them more human and real.

4) The humor (overall)! I laughed my eyes dry every time a droid had any dialog. I didn't much like the slapstick humor in the films, but as a cartoon it fits a lot better. Like when two clones are surrounded by an army of battle droids: Droid: "Surrender" Clone: "But we have you outnumbered." (Droid looks around, "What?" (counts droids) "One, two.." And then out of the sky comes two clone ships filled with men, blowing the droids away "Kaboom!" And when a droid is looking over a cliff through binoculars to see the approaching clones, but loses his balance and falls down the cliff. His droid commander says, "Come back here, soldier!" Very funny stuff! Yes, it's "kiddie humor" but it works here and got me laughing.

In addition, the story was engaging for a TV cartoon. Compare it to a throw-away episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender (my fave kid-TV show by far) and it stands up pretty well. Remember "The great divide", "The Fortuneteller", "Avatar Day", "The Beach", "The Ember Island Players", etc. etc.

For a TV show, I would rate this 8 out of 10, but for a "movie" only 6 out of 10. And since it's kind of both, I give it a 7.

I can't wait to see more of this series on TV! But hope Ahsoka dies a long and painful death. :)

Methadone for Stars Wars addicts

[vrillsharpe · 2/10 · 18 August 2008]

My 14 year old son passed on this, so I went by myself. I should have heeded his warning, "Dad, it IS a kid's movie." It is in fact.

But desirous of a Star Wars fix, I had to go.

And I am sorry I did. What a waste of time! I probably would have gotten more out of playing Battlefront II on my Xbox. Replaying Knights of the Old Republic would definitely have been better.

There wasn't really a story here, and what story there was pretty much an affront to any decent writing in any of the novels or comics in the last 30 years. There are many fan movies that are a whole heck of a lot better. Many fine things have been said that lay out the failings of this movie, so there's no need to repeat them. Most of the characters are as much cardboard as the vaunted breakthrough animation techniques. That's enough to tank any movie.

Couldn't we have had a movie that didn't pander to five year olds? This thing should have come with a Warning. "Warning! Watching this fetid pile of ripe manure, will cause you to develop a severe allergic reaction toward the Star Wars franchise."

It was an OK start.

[swiftnick47 · 6/10 · 16 August 2008]

I had a feeling this would be a major letdown (as a Star Wars fan the trailer did not impress me), but it wasn't. It is no great movie by all means, but It does not try to be. It could however be the beginning of something very good indeed.

Good things first.

The movie looked good and had some good CGI effects. It had a nice pace, lots of action-scenes and some are actually OK, without ever being incredible though. The movie had nice voice work also, even though Yoda is not voiced by Frank OZ (but you need the ear of a true Star Wars nerd to notice that). The chemistry between Anakin and Asoka was nice and worked well (it will be interesting to watch that evolve).

Not so good things. Well first of all the story is not too exiting (youre never really at the edge of you seat), but then again this is hopefully just the beginning to something far greater. The movie lacks that one extremely cool action scene or character (you never really get surprised or shocked). The droid humor is really not needed, because it's just not funny. It feels too forced from the lack of other comical characters (Star Wars will do just fine without the tacky humor George). Then there is the facial animation. Sometimes it's OK, but at other times you wish the faces would be a little more lively (they are at times too stiff, especially around the mouthes). I still liked the overall design of the movie and characters though.

Overall the movie wasn't a bad a start, and I will definitely watch the coming episodes with great interest.

Very entertaining

[plesgaby · 7/10 · 7 August 2008]

I went to a private screening yesterday with very low expectative, but "Clone Wars" surprised me. Being a fan of the Star Wars franchise since childhood, I wondered what was the real need for a movie like this, set between Episodes II and III, and telling the story of a very unimportant event in the Star Wars universe. But only 5 minutes into the film, I forgot about my preconceptions and became fully absorbed with the stunning visuals and the compelling plot. "Clone Wars" delivers, and definitely lives up to its predecessors. The only thing that seems a little odd is the fact that the main character and hero of the story (Anakin), is the person who we already know will become the cruelest villain in sci-fi history. I hope Lucas gives us more of these films in the near future, perhaps filling the gap between Episodes III and IV.

It is great for kids, but will make fans, and just about anyone else, sick to their stomachs

[DonFishies · 2/10 · 16 August 2008]

It hurts me, physically, to say I disliked Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I may not like to think it, but I have always been a Star Wars fanboy, right from the moment I first lay eyes on Return of the Jedi. I was never a huge fan of the TV series, but it did not seem too bad when I did see it. Apparently, I should have been looking closer.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars as anyone could guess, follows Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi during their stints as "army generals" during the infamous Clone Wars. In the film, Skywalker (voiced by Matt Lanter) is given a Padawan learner, the feisty Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein), and given the mission of rescuing Jabba the Hutt's son. He has been kidnapped, and in exchange for his safe return, Jabba will aid the Republic during the war. But obviously, the job will not be that easy.

Saying Star Wars: The Clone Wars mocks the very fabrics of the Star Wars franchise does not even begin to explain how horrendous this movie is. Take just about everything you could have disliked about the new trilogy (and even things you may have from the original trilogy), and it probably will not even come close to the destructive nature George Lucas have brought us with this film (and subsequent new series).

For one thing, it seems that the casual one-liners of the series have been amped up to being used every other sentence. All this new Ahsoka character brings to the table, other than a lightsaber-sized gash through the heart of continuity, are giggling one-liners. She even has a nickname for Skywalker that she proceeds to use every time she is not calling him Master (and for an even more inexplicable reason, he has one for her). And then she has a name for R2-D2 and Jabba's son as well ('Stinky', which seems to be the only name he is ever really referred to as). I realize that Star Wars was never one for being perfect with their dialogue, but save for Jar Jar Binks (who does not make any appearances in the film), I do not think I have ever been more annoyed by any character more than this one. It is like the writers (who surprisingly are not Lucas) did away with anything we have learned about Jedis, and gave us this irritating wise-ass. Sure there was a cuteness to her character, but she loses that after about five minutes of screen time.

Even worse, the Battle Droids just seem to be here for comic relief. I was always under the belief they just spoke their directives. But somehow, someway, they actually talk to each other, and say the most ridiculous things to each other. Oh yeah, they may be funny for a six-year-old, but for anyone else, they are absolutely agonizing. At one point, one says "Shut up!" to another one, and you can almost hear the sound millions of fanboys make when a piece of their childhood has withered away and died. And if neither the Padawan or the Droids do it, then surely Ziro the Hutt (voiced by Corey Burton), Jabba's uncle will. Remember John Waters' friend and muse, Divine? Ziro is nearly the splitting image (albeit, an obese and disgusting slug).

The story is also an issue here. It is just, not strong enough to sustain a film. It does not necessarily feel like a three-part arc of the TV show (although the bizarre opening "crawl" read off by a Saturday morning announcer sure does not help that ideal), but it also does not feel like a completely well thought out film either. Sure, it has the political intrigue about Jabba's son's kidnapping, but this is supposed to be a Clone Wars movie. People come to see the Clone Wars. So why is all the meaty story elements being pumped into a throwaway story about a baby slug the main characters keep referring to as 'Stinky'? It just screams bad story writing, and essentially, makes the film need to stand beside the show, instead of as its own separate movie. I can only hope that it will fit in better there, as opposed to needing to stand beside the theatrical films here.

I will say, for all of its continuity ruining, terrible one-liners, silly storyline, and lack of John Williams themed music (I could not believe it either), there are some very well animated action sequences. In some cases, whether I like to admit it or not, some of the scenes look spot-on with the look of Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith, even to the point of the Battle Droids and Clone Troopers looking nearly perfect to their real life incarnations. Yes, the human characters look a little weird (especially anyone with hair, or a beard), but everything else looks very good, and very close to what they did in the movies. The animation here is not as exquisitely detailed as the likes of a Pixar movie, but it never aims to imitate them. As well, even though the likes of Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor are not doing voice work in the film, the voice actors have made a genuine attempt to have their voices sound similar. The result is much more astounding than I could have imagined, and almost made me forget they were not the real thing.

In the end, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a kids movie, or at least, can be appreciated by children. It has the whiz-bang battles of a Star Wars movie, but the humour and ADD-infused dialogue that they can appreciate from the cartoons they watch on Saturday morning. If you are not a child however, it may just ruin any childhood memory you had of this once legendary series.

2.5/10.

Thin plot, but better than Episode 2

[tieman64 · 15 August 2008]

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" was directed by Dave Filoni, who reduces George Lucas' franchise to a series of light-sabre battles and action scenes. Of course this is exactly what the kids want, but the overall effect is more akin to a niccotine addiction than actual art, cool fights, pretty explosions and slick spaceships rolled out like Pavolovian commands. The Force is itself no longer a pseudo-religion, but simply a means of pushing or pulling your opponent during combat. Likewise, the franchise's heroes are no longer characters, but avatars who serve no other purpose than to dish out and receive abuse. There's something very pornographic about a cartoon which exists solely to package futuristic war scenes for kids.

Still, there's about twenty minutes of good cinema here, including a pair of memorable battles and some nice art direction. The film's dialogue is less annoying than Lucas' prequels, and it's fast paced and very briskly told.

The thing that always interested me about "Star Wars", though, were the franchise's environments, landscapes, architectural designs and cultures. The original "Star Wars" was cool because it hinted at a large universe. You felt as though you could point the camera anywhere and discover some fascinating eco-system packed with oddball aliens and weird machinery. It sparked your imagination. Decades later and we still haven't explored the nooks and cranies of this vast universe. Instead we distill it down to 10 minute long lightsabre duels and boring violence. It's all very unimaginative.

6.5/10 - This is essentially "Saving Private Ryan" for kids. One vertical battle along a mountain face is pretty interesting, other than that, the plot simply exists to usher in the next battle scene. Male kids will love it, but this is disposable cinema with a limited shelf life.

Okay if you're a fan

[Travito23 · 7/10 · 17 August 2008]

Now, if you feel that there is no depth to the characters, you're correct. However, you should have known going into this that it is geared toward children and the depth is not really necessary.

The other 6 movies give the characters enough depth and you already know what each character is going after. This film does do a good job of telling a story however, and addresses a significant chunk of the story not addressed in the live action films.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars should really only be seen by fans of Star Wars or children that are fans of flashy animation and not of the "lack of depth" as some other reviews have stated. This film is solid in my opinion however, it keeps the story moving along, nice slice of action, and the best part, in my opinion, shows more of the intentions of Darth Sidious and his interactions with his pupil, Count Dooku.

I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10.

If you liked Attack of the Cl...no wait...if you liked Caravan of Courage...

[TheRowdyMan · 5/10 · 14 August 2008]

The traditional scrolling prologue is replaced by a transatlantic voice that would have been at home in a 1940's serial. From here, we are thrown into episode 2.5 of the Star Wars saga. This is pretty generic Saturday morning cartoon fare with wooden voice acting and two dimensional characters. The dynamic between Anakin Skywalker and his new sidekick, will grate on the nerves of anyone over the age of 8 years old. The stiff animation makes everyone come across as a cross between an action figure and a Thunderbird. For a theatrically released film there is nothing cinematic about it and feels like a feature length pilot for the animated series.

As a spin off from the Star Wars franchise, it's OK but purely for kids only.

Better than expected

[williams-john · 7/10 · 16 August 2008]

Having ploughed through several negative early reviews for this film, I expected the worst, but I was pleasantly surprised.

A cinematic triumph, it ain't, but by no means is 'The Clone Wars' revisiting 'Star Wars Holiday Special' territory (despite some rather histrionic, fan-boy reviews to the contrary).

'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' is, by & large, a taster to showcase the upcoming television series, so those expecting a fully fledged live-action motion 'Star Wars' film to rival 'Batman: Dark Knight' will most likely be disappointed.

Fans of the 'Star Wars' series of films will find 'The Clone Wars' less of a viewing 'chore' & most likely find much to like, especially if they acknowledge that this animated version of 'Star Wars' is firmly placed at the PG end of the galaxy.

Overall, the film is aimed at a young adults/children's demographic (despite the inclusion of a few violent scenes), & judging by the reactions to the film from younger members of the audience, it succeeded on that level at least (silence/laughter in the 'right places' etc).

The animation for 'The Clone wars' is not to the same standard as, say, a Pixar offering, though it is at times spectacular, with some finely executed battle set-pieces (almost 'Saving Private Ryan' without the blood). There is a retro feel to the design for film's various characters, each of which seems to have a 'hand-crafted' look harking back to the appearance of the marionettes seen in Gerry Anderson's 'Thunderbirds' series.

Despite the inevitable comparisons to Pixars' work, it could be argued that the animation rendered for the 'Clone Wars' betters the work of any number of Pixar wannabees/competitors released over the past few years.

The dialogue is (love it or hate it) purely comic-book and probably won't endear the film to detractors of the Star Wars prequels series, though ironically it is this film (as opposed to Episodes I, II & III) that imbues the character of Anakin Sywalker with a touch of personality (the sparring relationship between Skywalker and his new 'padawan' apprentice, Ashoka Tano, makes for some of the film's more engaging moments).

'The Clone Wars' introduces some 'new' characters Asajj Ventress (a villain first seen in the original 'Clone Wars' television series) & Captain Rex (a clone officer) both are welcome additions to the film but ultimately they seemed to have added little to the overall (fairly straightforward) story. This film being an introduction to a television series we'll have to wait & see what happens to them as their individual fates are not resolved in this movie.

Not all of the original cast (from the prequels) were available to lend their vocal talents to 'The Clone Wars', though the cast of voice-over actors do a superb job in filling in the gaps quite seamlessly. There are cameos from Anthony Daniels (C3P0) & Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu), as well as, the magisterial tones of Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) to keep fans in the 'Star Wars' universe, though the absence of the familiar opening 'crawl' & theme music will be (again) disappointing for 'Star Wars'die-hards.

As an opening act for the new animated series, George Lucas & director Dave Filoni, will succeed in whetting the appetite for a younger generation of 'Star Wars' for more, though some long time fans of the series will find it difficult to accept some of the more 'cartoonish' aspects of the film (the realisation of Jabba The Hutt's extended family being one example).

Overall, 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' is a reasonably entertaining, visually pleasing, children's Saturday matinée film (following in the footsteps of traditional cliff-hanger matinées), invested with some design flair.

Little more, though certainly no less than that.

The more cynical of 'Star Wars' fans will probably complain about various aspects of the 'The Clone Wars' motion picture...but only after viewing the film 4 or 5 times.

enough already

[Buddy-51 · 4/10 · 16 August 2008]

High on the list of movies-we-probably-could-have-done-without would be "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," an animated installment in the sci-fi series that serves mainly as the big-screen warm-up act for the upcoming TV series of the same name. Since it falls somewhere between "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith" in the narrative sequence (think of it as Episode 2 ½ ), virtually none of the really interesting characters in the saga make an appearance in this movie - no Luke Skywalker, no Han Solo, no Princess Leia, no Darth Vader. Instead, we're left with a young pre-Vader Anakin Skywalker and a pre-Alec Guinness Obi-wan Kenobi off on a mission to rescue the son of Jaba the Hutt, who's been kidnapped by the Empire's evil Count Dooku in a convoluted scheme to turn the Hutts against the Republic, thereby denying them use of the trading routes that the Hutts control.

Considering the fact that the last time we saw Anakin he had already completed his journey to the Dark Side and taken on the mantle of Darth Vader, it seems a trifle incongruous to still be cheering him on as a hero in this film. It also doesn't help that, in animated form, Anakin (voiced by Matt Lanter) is an even more shallow and wooden character than he was in the first two episodes of the series, and that the playful bantering between him and his sassy, Jedi-in-training sidekick, Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Drane), is a pale echo indeed of the kind of verbal jousting that Han and Leia regularly engaged in in those earlier films. And what's with turning Jaba the Hut's uncle into a purple, painted-up drag queen with the vocal stylings and facial expressions of Truman Capote?

On a technical level, the animation is no more than passable even in its best moments, with the backdrops and special effects far less impressive than they are in the live-action episodes - or in any Pixar movie released in the past ten years for that matter. The fight scenes are relatively fast-paced, but they do go on and on to the point where, after awhile, the audience is just passively staring at things occurring on the screen, not becoming actively engaged in any kind of character conflict or compelling storyline.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" feels like a cynical, on-the-cheap attempt to bilk still more money out of the legions of die-hard "Star Wars" fans who have been so instrumental in helping George Lucas build a pretty impressive empire of his own. And those devotees certainly deserve something better than this halfhearted, intergalactic version of "Adventures in Babysitting." Don't get me wrong, I love "Star Wars" as much as the next person, but "The Clone Wars" is unworthy of the Lucasfilm trademark.

The best Starter to Star Wars the clone wars

[WeAreLive · 10/10 · 22 August 2017]

I really love this movie of Star Wars, I have to say I am very impressed with this movie.

The animation, the voice acting and the character development in the movie are incredible. We even get Christopher Lee, Samuel L Jackson and Matthew Wood which is another bonus.

Plus I never knew until that Jabba the Hutt had a son. I also found that scene funny when they rescued Rotta the Hutt and Anakin made Ashoka carry because she found him cute.

Not for every star wars fan

[dvn27 · 7/10 · 15 August 2008]

Star wars: Clone wars is a mildly entertaining film. The actors who did Obi and Anikan have similar voices to Ewen and Hayden so it wasn't too distracting when they spoke. As the summary says however, it is not for the majority of star wars fans.

The plot is somewhat lacking, and that is one of the worries i had when i went to the midnight showing. However, it has some good moments.

My two complaints are this: I'm tired of the "bad guys" giving a damn monologue about how they are going to destroy their opponent and then end up running away. Jabba's uncle almost killed the entire movie for me. The voice being the primary contributor. It just didn't fit the sluggish appearance.

The new character, Asohka had a very blank personality however. It seems that a young new padawan is capable of fighting off a sith.

If you want to enjoy this movie, don't go in expecting to see a star wars film that is in the same category as the others. If you don't, you will end up finding the film ridiculous.

Utter crap.

[lukasjoley · 1/10 · 15 August 2008]

Star Wars: the Clone Wars is, in every single way, a failure. The characters are shallow, Anakin showing none of his darker side even through the movie takes place between Edisode II and III, and the others being either overly colorful and annoying or really dull. I do realize the movie is meant for kids, but even Ratatouille has more character depth than this.

The story and dialogue lacks any kind of quality; the core of the story is about Jabba the Huts child who has been kidnapped by the Separators (who later becomes the Imperials), who are trying to frame the Jedi Council for it, while Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ashoka (Anakins padawan) are sent out to save the Hut child. In their path stands a Sith Lord who, for some reason which we do not know, wants revenge on Anakin. The dialog lacks any substance at all, and the catch lines (and there are painfully plenty of those) are stupid and lame.

As for the animation, it is far behind other studios such as DreamWorks or Pixar, with blocky character models, poorly animated action sequences and overall outdated graphical quality and texturing. Also, the movie lacks too much of what makes Star Wars "Star Wars".

Hardly of the original actors have lent their voices to the movie, and you can really feel the difference. The score has not been written by John Williams, and that is something you will surely notice, as Kinders score isn't even remotely close to his work, and doesn't have the Star Wars feel at all. The only original Star Wars songs used are the main theme and ending theme, and one other song. Also, there is no plot summary at the beginning of the movie. No, there is no plot summary. I must ask, have George Lucas had anything to do with this at all?

The whole movie is a complete failure. From the very first second, to the last of the credits. A complete failure.

Critical response is far too harsh. It's a fun time, and it's worthy of the name Star Wars.

[The_Amazing_Spy_Rises · 7/10 · 16 August 2008]

Well, I've got to admit. I wasn't thrilled at the idea of yet another unnecessary Star Wars movie (does George Lucas not have anything else to do?), but I knew I'd go see it anyway out of sheer loyalty. Star Wars has long been my favorite film series, a series so great in my opinion that I posted on this site while watching the original trilogy - with other posters who were also watching the movies. It was quite the interactive experience. But as I think about The Clone Wars, I have to remember that the 'film' is not actually meant to be a film, but a TV pilot, and it must be treated as such.

As a film, The Clone Wars, is flat, cheesy, formulaic, and predictable, while still holding the Star Wars magic. It dragged a bit towards the end as more characters were introduced and re-introduced. Unfortunately, the critics are sort of right when they say that small children will be the main benefactors of this film...although there were a lot of moments I enjoyed.

As a TV pilot, I think this project was well done. It struck a balance between returning and new characters (especially a character that hadn't even been mentioned in Revenge of the Sith), and introduced some backstory on the severely under-told Clone Wars. We also see a bit of an intro to Jabba the Hutt, as well as why he is allied with Darth Vader in the original trilogy. So, without knowing it, Lucas and company answered some minor questions the viewer may have, while leaving enough intrigue and interest for the viewer to pick up on the television show when it begins on TNT and Cartoon Network.

There's not a ton of returning voice talent (I believe only Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, and Samuel L. Jackson return, while the latter two have minimal roles, negating whatever bonus that gives the viewer). Where the new voice actors step in, they more than succeed in giving us the voices we recognize. Matt Lanter did a great job as Anakin (thank GOD Hayden Christensen didn't reprise his role), and James Arnold Taylor was fantastic as Obi Wan Kenobi. He sounds exactly like Ewan McGregor, and Taylor brings a lot to the role. By far my favorite voice in the film. Tom Kane's take on Yoda is indistinguishable from Frank Oz's classic.

The main paradox of this film is that it is obviously meant for children so they can gain more viewers for the television show, but there is far too much violence for a parent to not become concerned. The action is great, and there's definitely a lot of stuff that's done that they couldn't have done in the live action films. Of course, the animation has its detractors...of course, it doesn't look great in the traditional sense, but I got over it rather quickly, and noticed the little things that are hard in animation (such as matching a facial expression to a voice, and the lighting. There was a lot of effort put into this.

As a Star Wars fan, I was not upset because I enjoyed the experience and further charm that the series has. It's definitely likable, if you let yourself like it. If I had to point out another shortcoming, it would be the character development, but I give it a pass here as it is meant to be a pilot. Overall, I think the critical response is far too harsh, with these 'experts' focusing on the fact that this film was actually made, and not enjoying the film for what it is. If you want a good time, and you like Star Wars even a little, I'd say take a chance on The Clone Wars. Who knows, the kid in you may end up laughing a bit.