THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Ever since 1977’s Star Wars (Ep IV: A New Hope), the reference to the Clone Wars became a story arc fans were dying to see. While bits and pieces were shown through the prequel trilogy, it was truthfully explored through an animated film, following up with an animated series.
PLOT
The 2008 film takes place within the first year of the titular war. It follows Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi and Knight Anakin Skywalker, along with a battalion of Republic clone troopers, battle a Separatist droid army on planet Christophsis. There, they meet Padawan Ahsoka Tano who is assigned by Master Yoda to be Anakin’s apprentice. The Jedi knight reluctantly accepts her as his responsibility as the two secure a Republic victory by deactivating a Separatists energy field. After the battle had concluded, Yoda assigns the two rescue Rotta, the son of Jabba the Hutt. The Huttlet has been abducted by assassin Asaji Ventress, orchestrated by Darth Sidious & Count Dooku to frame the Jedi in order to have Jabba align with the Separatists. Kenobi goes to Tatooine to negotiate a treaty between the Hutts and the Republic. Anakin & Tano, along with R2-D2, do find Rotta at planet Teth, only to be ambushed by Ventress. They do manage to escape and alert Kenobi. When he arrives on Teth, he does duel with Ventress, only for her to retreat. On Coruscant, Anakin’s secretly wedded wife Senator Padmé Amidala (Catherine Taber) gets involved by contacting Jabba’s Uncle Ziro (Corey Burton). He refuses to cooperate when believing the Jedi to be responsible for the situation. When she visits him on Tatooine, she finds out that he conspired with Dooku to seize power over the Hutt Clan if the Jedi were taken into custody. When she gets captured, a chance call from C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) gives her the opportunity to summon a clone squadron to rescue her and arrest Ziro. Within custody, Ziro admits to being threatened by Dooku if he didn’t cooperate. When Anakin & Tano arrive to Tattooine, they encounter Dooku and MagnaGuard droids, but are able to overcome their adversaries, leading them to successfully return Rotta to Jabba. When the Hutt gets caught up on the truth of Ziro’s involvement, he agrees to the treaty. When Anakin & Tano return to Coruscant, the film ends with Dooku asserting his master that despite failing such a scheme, the tide of the war is still in favor.
THOUGHTS
Due to how the prequel trilogy concluded on a high note, I still had enough love for Star Wars to be interested in what would be done next. And overall, it is easy for me to admit that I enjoy what was given. This movie works out because Dave FIloni was able to make an entertaining chapter that begins to fill the gap of such an essential arc that delivers here and through the series. The animation is not perfect like a Pixar movie, but it's solid enough to keep me interested, surprisingly making each action sequence intriguing to see, from a shootout to a lightsaber duel. The main reason this movie works out because I learn a big theme of how staying optimistic can lead to new directions and sticking to your own personal beliefs is better than abandoning them. I felt this through the chemistry between Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano. With all due respect to Hayden Christensen, voice actor Matt Lanter excels with this character by embracing him to be a driven yet passionate person. This is a guy who cares about the cause and does not enjoy being slowed down. Enter Ahsoka whose played excellently by Ashley Eckstein. She may be cocky at first, but she truly stands out for being as selfless as any other Jedi. Ani takes a liking to her because he sees how big her heart is, thus creating the greatest bond he ever had with anyone. Sadly, this would be the closest he could get to being a father to anyone before things would take a turn for the worst. While the bond between these characters are what the whole film worthwhile, there are still a few other characters that keep the pace going. Since Ewan McGregor brought rejuvenation to Obi Wan Kenobi, it was definitely a challenge to exceed from that performance. But lucky for James Arnold Taylor, he made it look easy for accurately depicting the iconic Jedi as thoughtful and cleverly impish as you would remember him. Based on this film alone, you can definitely feel his sense of being more open minded on how to approach situations thanks to his experience training Ani. And with that, it only made him more intelligent than before. Dee Bradley Baker brings so much layers to playing the countless clones in this film and the preceding series, but none of them were as interesting as Captain Rex. He stood out the most not just for being a gruff and fearless soldier, but because his loyalty feels the most natural. He was created to fight, but he is someone who naturally learned to respect his allies, without being programmed, hence creating an efficient mindset on the battlefield. It was great for Christopher Lee returned to play Dooku one more time, but the villain that is more interesting here is Asaji Ventress. Played to perfection by Nika Futterman, she makes an impact for being vicious enough to satisfy her employers. She is obviously someone filled with rage and with someone like that on the opposing side, you know it ain't gonna be easy to overcome the odds. I also want to give a shoutout to Tom Kane who had his own commitment with multiple voice roles: The enthusiastic narrator, the crisp Admiral Yularen and the wisely intelligent Master Yoda. Like Baker, that is just impressive range to notice. Even though this film is still creative with its surroundings, there were still many things in the story that don’t make that much sense. So it does make sense in a political standpoint to let a monster control the outer rim, to avoid war. Obviously Palpatine (Ian Abercrombie) is on board with it because he is a Sith in secret, but shouldn’t the Jedi take a vote on this if they all don’t like it? It’s not like Windu is the only one who spoke up on this. And am I the only one who thought it was very reckless for Anakin to not announce a plan of attack with the clones before moving forward. I know they’re loyal but come on, it could’ve backfired. It is convenient for the shield generator to be out in the open, but why would it be there? That’s asking for the good guys to win, so they should’ve hidden it under the shield itself, which would make it harder to get to. I really don’t want to hate on Ahsoka, but the dumbest thing she does in this movie is choosing to get up while hiding and I’m irritated that Ani allowed it to happen. I’m even surprised that the droids had no weapon big enough to take down the cannons that the clones had on them. They could’ve used extra land mine droids to overpower them. Kenobi is usually smart, but he should’ve kept his mouth on judging Jabba’s nickname to his son. He’s a goddamn mobster for crying out loud. Also, how the hell did no one spot Ventress’ service droid? One look from any clone and the jig would’ve been up and the frame would’ve not went through. That would’ve been hilarious to see because Jabba could’ve killed Dooku for not backing up his claims. Also, why did it take so long for Ani to jumpstart Ventress’ spare ship? I gotta ask since the droids were just about ready to leave before Tano killed them. And was it really safe for him to summon lightspeed while his padawan was caring to Rotta? If there’s no repercussions in light speed, that should be clear. It is clever for the MagnaGuard droids to pick up the hologram device and mistake it to be an explosive, but how have they not seen one before? So many living characters use it around them and they don’t know what they look like? That’s where I draw the line with stupid robots. Once you ignore this, you’ll still enjoy the movie for what it is. To wrap up, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is worth the time for beginning to fill up the gap we were dying to see. If you want to see a proper beginning of evolution, start here and continue with the series.
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