Starring: Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, Tom Kane, Nika Futterman, Ian Abercrombie, Catherine Taber, Kevin Michael Richardson, Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Daniels, Christopher Lee

Directed by: Dave Filoni

Lucas Films

The Official Site of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Discuss Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the boards!

Don’t feel like reading the long review - catch the Quick Look at Flixster!

Is anyone else tired of waiting for Obi-Wan to be the man? I know – this is completely the wrong way to start the review but I’m sorry – he’s been my favorite Jedi since I was 3 and after waiting 20 years for him to do something other hand wave his had and die, we’re subjected to three movies where that little punk Anakin is better than him at every turn. Sure he made Darth Maul half the man he used to be and at the end of Sith he finally shows up that youngling-gutting punk, but that victory was to be short lived. Because Star Wars: The Clone Wars flashes back between Episodes II and III, to a time when Anakin was Mr. Perfect and Obi-Wan was just the Jedi Master living in his shadow.

That’s how the The Clone Wars opens, with Obi-Wan in trouble and Anakin acting impulsively, doing the impossible to save the day. Successfully. After the lack of a scrolling back-story which starts off every other Star Wars film, (replaced for some reason by a news-report like verbal recap, I suppose to not overwhelm the young audience with a wall of text right off the bat) this was strike two in kicking off this new adventure. It appeared as though favorite character would always be second best to those Skywalker bastards.

Lucas has spent a lot of time making the focus of the franchise Anakin and persuading the world to embrace him as their new hero, even though he’s 8 jillion times more interesting limbless and in a black suit. I think it’s part of the reason that the prequels are so poorly received. The fact that the character is destine for evil combined with Hayden Christensen’s wooden performance made it difficult to root or care about Anakin the same way we did Luke in the original Trilogy. We were left with a hero that we hated instead of loved. A hero we were actively waiting to see turn bad and get chopped up, because in our lives – that’s the coolest he’s ever been.

The Clone Wars features Anakin the hero again. The story focuses on a little piece of a larger war. Specifically, Obi-Wan and Anakin have been sent to rescue Jabba the Hutts kidnapped son Rotta (quickly dubbed “stinky�). They’re hopeful that this showing of good faith will result in Jabba giving the Republic use of his shipping lanes allowing them to bring the rest of their Clone army to the forefront of their war with the separatists. Count Duku (featuring the booming tones of a returning Christopher Lee) has other plans and the reveal of a complicated subplot creates big problems for the good guys.

It’s a nice focused adventure that doesn’t get too clouded by the huge war around them, and I think that was a good move. We’ve seen the larger adventure, let’s expand on that a little. At the same time the film features gigantic battle sequences that evolve and escalate in the best kind of ways. The Star Wars films have always featured multiple battles at the same time, but rarely do they advance and change within a single battle the way they do here. I think people are glossing over this because of how terrible the animation is.

Visually the film is a disaster. I was impressed by early designs and the lighting and composition of what I saw in the trailer, but the frozen forms and stiff movements are amplified on the big screen. It’s either bad animation or they just perfectly captured Hayden Christensen's mannerisms and applied it to every other character. Either way, the look of the film is strictly direct to DVD quality and in the end it only hurts the rest of the production.

By focusing on the smaller adventure we’re given the chance to take a closer look at the other characters. People like, I don know – Obi Wan Kenobi… I’m giving the movie a hard time because of the way they kick things off but, even though he’s not exactly the star, Obi-Wan is given a couple of key scenes that reminded me why he’s always been a stand out in my eyes. In a showdown with new Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress (the bald lady with double sabers) we see Obi-Wan at his best. Like the James Bond of the Star Wars universe he banters and battles with a lot of style.

Earlier in the film we get to see a completely different side of him as he discusses the terms of surrender on the battlefield with explosions all around him. It’s not exactly a shinning spotlight moment, but it’s something completely new and for that I’m grateful.

While Obi-Wan is distracted with busy work Anakin is giving something this time around that makes him infinitely more interesting - a Padawan learner. The introduction of Ahsoka is the best thing to come into the Star Wars universe since Luke's robot hand. She breathes new life not only into the world, but the stale old characters around her. She's a challenge to Anakin and though they constantly bicker, there opposites bring out the best in each other. She’s clearly there to make a connection to the younger audience as well as the female crowd and I think it’s successful. What’s less successful is her insistence to give people cute nicknames. People may have more heinous moments to point out in The Clone Wars, but to me, the most cringe-inducing parts of the film are the three times she refers to R2-D2 as “R-twoiee�. Unforgivable in an otherwise great first impression.

The Clone Wars has been dragged through the mud by critics and fans. I don’t know one other person that enjoyed it but its not nearly as awful as you may be hearing. It makes a fun addition to the Star Wars universe as well as flashy introduction to what's supposed to be an ongoing TV show. As far as it being the testing ground for the series - Star Wars: The Clone Wars doesn't feel like three episodes all chopped up. There are times where the look of the film definitely had me scratching my head saying, "Is this a Sc-fi Channel original movie", but as far as the story goes it feels connected, cohesive and complete. This is obviously a very big adventure in a very miniscule part of the larger story, but it works. It's a lot of fun and I'm excited about Star Wars again. That's never a bad thing.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 - In case you couldn’t tell, what with this long-ass review that seems to meander in every odd direction imaginable (wait until you get to my “Lucas cares about Lucas� rant in the About The Comics section), but I’m very excited to be talking about Star Wars again! People have a lot to complain about here and I understand why so many are upset with this blocky, unpolished attempt… but it’s still Star Wars. It’s still the characters we’ve loved for years on new adventures. It may not be what we want but is it really so bad?

It is not so beautiful to behold in it's clunky, frigid character modelling and directionless composition, but The Clone Wars, for the most part manages to capture the classic spirit of the franchise, introducing some exciting new characters in this great big screen launch for the upcoming TV series. I couldn't say for sure if it'll be a home run with the kids but the epic battle sequences that seem to go one forever and evolve into new adventures definitely kept my eyes on the screen with anticipation. It's far from perfect, but that's par for the course with Star Wars these days, so what's the use in complaining.

There were a lot of great new characters in The Clone Wars, but in today’s incentive image I take a gentle jab at one of them. Rotta the Hutt isn’t fooling anyone . After voting to see today’s new incentive image, don’t forget to check out all the old ones over in this thread on the boards. Oh, and if you know what Rotta is really saying in that image, you’re a huge nerd.

I’m going to say yes, but with a big “if� behind it. I’ll pick up Star Wars: The Clone Wars if it comes with the DVDs of the original 2-D series at a discount. Those are inspiring and beautiful to behold and need to be in my DVD collection. This new 3D direction is somewhat less impressive, but I think I’d enjoy this adventure on on home video nonetheless. Apparently though, I’m the only one in the galaxy that thinks that…

Lucas is definitely not in touch with his target audience, though I think his target audience over the years has become himself. Or maybe it always was and he was just a lot cooler in the 70s. God bless the man for being true to himself and following what he believes is right, but if he somehow swoops in and ruins another great franchise, I’m gonna be pissed.

15 years ago, who’d of thought that there could be a bad Indiana Jones or Star Wars movie? Yeah Doom was dark and Jedi was a little muppet-heavy, but they were still fun. Then all of the sudden Han shot second, Anakin Skywalker is borderline special needs, and Indy finds survival inside a really well made appliance. I don’t have a huge problem with it all. It’s distracting, but at least Han still wins, Darth Maul proves a worthy distraction, and… honestly… if anyone is going to survive a nuclear explosion it’s going to be Indiana Jones. They’re far from perfect but at least it’s something.

Perhaps that’s the wrong attitude to have. Maybe we should be demanding nothing but the best from Lucas and his golden franchises. There’s nothing we could say that would persuade him though so we might as well get to creating our own pulp heroes and galaxies far far away.

Yes Man Movies that are meant to inspire you to be a better person can go either way. In the wrong hands the corny messages and wholesome do-gooders will fall on deaf, bitter ears. With the right people, ones like Jim Carry who can simultaneously represent an everyman but still manage to be the funniest person in the room, the movie can distract you with a couple laughs and actually get you to appreciate the true message. Actually make you to try and be a better person.

Yes Man feels that good. It feels like the kind of movie that will charm you with it’s over the top comedy and have you leaving the theater with a new perspective on life and the inspiration to make a difference. Though the last movie whose trailer had that kind of potential had me leaving the theater old and cranky. I think Carry can pull it off though. I think he can take this premise of a man that starts saying, “Yes� to everything and create another bright spot on his resume.

At the end of the trailer Carry speaks Korean to a women and apparently tells her some kind of joke that only she and he can understand. Even if you actually know Korean, you still won’t get the joke because he’s just speaking gibberish. The joke works as intended but when I saw the trailer last month before Step Brothers, I couldn’t help but ask my wife, a proud Korean American, what he was saying. She snapped back, “Nothing!� and was a lot less amused by it. I wouldn’t say she was insulted but I’d say she had the right to be.

I’ve got to be honest. I’m not looking forward to the Triple Feature tonight. The Clone Wars is almost universally hated and I’m really not up to being its lone defender. Maybe I’ll just pretended to hate it as well. The faithful (those willing to actually read this far in the review) will know the truth.

Hopefully we’ll focus more on Tropic Thundr, which actually lived up to the hype. Either way, if you liked Clone Wars, be sure to stop by and defend me. If you didn’t like it, then feel free to join in on the beatdown.

Over the weekend I announced a new project Phil, Irv and I are working on called Biteworld. It’s a story about a man who lives in a world overtaken by classic movie monsters. It has shade of Buffy, I Am Legend and a slew of other movies and books we’ve grown to love over the years, but we like to think we’ve put our own spin on it. I don’t want to ruin it though… check out the pages to see what I mean..

It’s part of the Comic Book Challenge, a competition where the Internet decides the top three. It’s sort of at a stage now where it doesn’t matter how good your idea is, it matters how many friends you have that are willing to randomly cast votes all day long. If you like what you see in those three sample pages, do the right thing and cast your vote!.

Thanks again to everyone that’s been voting, and a special thanks to those of you that laid out some money for the Gotham Ninjas T-shirts. The pre-order period is now over, but feel free to keep sending in those orders. Pre-orders will obviously be the priority once the shipment comes in, but we’re not going to keep the rest of you waiting long.