Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) Movie Review

As the Republic continues to battle against the Separatists, Count Dooku (Lee) hatches a plan to bring the Hutts, criminal overlords of the outer systems, into the conflict. Kidnapping Jabba the Hutt’s son, Dooku instructs his Sith assassin Asajj Ventress (Futterman) to hold the boy. When Jabba informs the Jedi Council of the abduction, Yoda (Kane) and Mace Windu (Jackson) send General Obi-Wan Kenobi (Eckstein) and General Anakin Skywalker (Lanter) and their Clone Trooper forces to rescue him.

When Episode III ended, Star Wars fans may have thought that they had seen the last of that galaxy far, far away on the big screen but the force is still with them.

The six Star Wars movies redefined the science fiction genre and set the standard for everything else to follow. While Episode I and for the most part Episode II of the prequel trilogy may have come as a slight disappointment to fans of the Original classic trilogy, the intriguing war that was the driving force of the story, The Clone War was always something that fans wanted to see ever since it was mentioned in ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’. George Lucas and animator Genndy Tartakovsky produced twenty-five traditionally animated shorts to dramatise the events that took place between Episodes II and III but now Lucas has gone back to original idea and re-gigged the look but not the idea.

Now instead of the traditional 2D animated style, the new version of ‘The Clone Wars’ story has been transformed into computer generated 3D to create a look that mixings the look of the films with a new style for the characters. The planets, spaceships and overall look of the backgrounds are very reminiscent of the movies. The character designs have been slightly changed from that of the previous animated series but not to a great degree. You can tell who these characters are and the same people who supplied the vocals for that series return to voice the characters again, with Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee returning to vocal Mace Windu and Count Dooku from the original movies.

This movie also serves as a pilot for the upcoming thirty-minute animated TV series but this isn’t just a marketing exercise, it works as an introduction to the show. The movie is about a mission for Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who have to rescue the kidnapped son of gangster Jabba the Hutt. They will increase relations between the Hutt clan and Republic, allowing them free passage through the Hutt controlled outer territories. Of course Count Dooku’s Separatist forces are behind his, with his apprentice Asajj Ventress holding the young Hutt hostage. This leads to plenty of battles, action and what every Star Wars fan loves, light sabre fights and they have all the gusto of the original films.

With a new score by the immortal John Williams, a few new characters thrown into the mix most noticeably Anakin’s new padawan Ahsoka Tano, it is still the essence of Star Wars that fans will enjoy. While the story is a little slight, hopefully the one hundred episodes of the animated series will be able to explore the relationships of the characters and underpinning of the Clone War effect leading into the events of Episode III, this is still very entertaining and a must see for all Star Wars fans.