DVD Review: Star Wars The Clone Wars
Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Animated Movie Coming to DVD
Nov 4, 2008
Sometimes an initial view of a film changes when viewed again; one's initial impression can mellow when seen again and the viewer catches subtle nuances that bring a film to life.
Then there's Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This flick didn't impress when viewed in theatres and – much like rotten meat left too long in a garbage can – time hasn't improved it any .
(You can click the above link to read the initial theatrical review. Those comments still stand)
What's It About?
The Republic is battling itself in the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) is still technically a good guy and palling about with mentor/BFF Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor), in between random bouts of robot-slaughter.
However, someone has kidnapped the infant son of Jabba the Hutt and he wants the Republic to find the little darling, or Jabba will close the Outer Rim to Republic ships. Of course, the separatists led by Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) have a certain interest in seeing Anakin fail.
Add one Sith assassin, an annoying Jedi apprentice, an offensively gay gangster, and lots of pointless battles in exotic locations, and you have a Star Wars movie.
DVD Extras
To its credit, Lucasfilm and Warner Bros. packed in the extras features for this DVD. One just wishes they'd done it with a better film.
The colour commentary by director Dave Filoni, producer Catherine Winder, writer Henry Gilroy and editor Jason W.A. Tucker is almost heartbreaking. It's clear that these they're major fans of Star Wars and wanted to put together a feature-length film that added to that legacy. Unfortunately they had to run their ideas past George Lucas, who seemed hell-bent on destroying his creation.
During the commentary, they reveal that Lucas himself was responsible for such questionable artistic decisions as Ahsoka Tano's irritating pet names and the lame one-liners delivered by the combat robots.
Warner Home Video included a couple of featurettes, too. "The Clone Wars: The Untold Stories" is essentially a preview of the stories told in the new television series, designed to get fans' salivary glands sizzling. "The Voices of the Clone Wars" introduces the viewer to the talented voice actors involved in the series, many of whom pull double and even triple duty.
"A New Score" features composer Kevin Kiner talking about how he brought John Williams' classic motifs into The Clone Wars, and there's a gallery of concept art. Six "Webisodes" detail some of the behind-the-scenes action and 4 deleted scenes get included as well.
The Final Analysis
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is further proof that George Lucas is essentially an older Michael Bay. He loves to put together gorgeous images of big spaceships going boom, but has absolutely no clue on how to put together a compelling story.
It's increasingly clear that, much like Gene Roddenberry with Star Trek: The Next Generation, George Lucas has become the biggest hindrance to the Star Wars franchise.
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