George Lucas is turning into the enemy of fun. This all-animated chapter Star Wars: The Clone Wars sounds like a perversely logical evolution of the series, which has been built around increasingly thick gobs of digital eye candy. But you never knew how much you'd miss all that lousy, wooden human acting. The animated Anakin, Obi-Wan, etc. (all with faux movie-star voices) are drones, and the repetitive combat sequences only add to the turgid videogame anonymity of it all. Lucas' fantasy empire has morphed into a machine that plays itself. F
Though it's at 19% on RT, which is a really bad sign.
August 15, 2008 1:48 PM
[Image] By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
Don't expect the seventh Star Wars film here. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is more like a long Saturday morning cartoon. Though I'm hardly the biggest Stars Wars fan, I have generally enjoyed the franchise. But this CG animated feature feels wooden. Maybe we've gotten so used to seeing the live-action versions that the animated tale feels like a pale replica. But it's not just the format that is the problem.
The story lacks narrative tension. The dialogue is stilted and overblown, a problem also in some of the live-action incarnations. That, combined with visuals that consistently lack punch, leaves little to engage us.
The film opens with Jedi knights trying to restore peace within the galaxy. It revisits favorite characters: Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Amidala and Yoda, as well as villains Count Dooku, Palpatine and General Grievous. Jabba the Hutt has a small, but key, part, as does his son, who becomes a pawn. The reptilian Hutt look is more appealing on a "youngling" than on the adult Jabba. And there is some humor surrounding the young Hutt.
Some of the better scenes involve a cocky Padawan named Ahsoka. Her repartee with Anakin enlivens things
And it's pleasant to hear some of the actors reprising roles, such as Anthony Daniels as C3PO and Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, but the dialogue is forgettable.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars may not satisfy any but the very young or the very devoted.
"'The Clone Wars': Cartoonish, in a bad way"
4 Comments -
I stopped reading after "Though I'm hardly the biggest Stars Wars fan..."
August 14, 2008 9:24 PM
I felt the same way!
August 14, 2008 9:57 PM
From EW,
By Owen Gleiberman
George Lucas is turning into the enemy of fun. This all-animated chapter Star Wars: The Clone Wars sounds like a perversely logical evolution of the series, which has been built around increasingly thick gobs of digital eye candy. But you never knew how much you'd miss all that lousy, wooden human acting. The animated Anakin, Obi-Wan, etc. (all with faux movie-star voices) are drones, and the repetitive combat sequences only add to the turgid videogame anonymity of it all. Lucas' fantasy empire has morphed into a machine that plays itself. F
August 15, 2008 1:42 PM
Our paper gave it 4 out of 5 stars, FWIW.
Though it's at 19% on RT, which is a really bad sign.
August 15, 2008 1:48 PM