Full Series REVIEWS of The Clone Wars Theatrical release (spoilers within)

YAHOO NEWS

Clone Wars' revives old-style `Star Wars' fun

By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer Thu Jul 17, 8:02 AM ET

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - A tinge of Anakin Skywalker's coming dark side clearly is visible in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." Yet the animated adventure mostly harks back to the fun, swashbuckling times of the original "Star Wars" trilogy.

Lucasfilm Animation, which screened the movie Tuesday for The Associated Press in advance of its Aug. 15 theatrical release, has crafted a movie nicely tucked in to Anakin's early heroic days, before his transformation into the evil Darth Vader.

Along for the ride are noble-hearted clone soldiers with the camaraderie of Marine grunts, inept android warriors as idiotic as the Three Stooges and a young protege who rivals Anakin for cockiness and affectionately calls him "Sky Guy."

Dave Filoni, director of the movie and supervising director for "The Clone Wars" animated TV show debuting this fall on TNT and the Cartoon Network, said the idea was to return to the wisecracking tone of the original "Star Wars" in 1977, before the gloom of Anakin's fall.

"I wanted this to have the banter. I wanted this to be funny," Filoni said in an interview at Skywalker Ranch, home to Lucasfilm Animation, a division of "Star Wars" creator George Lucas' filmmaking empire. "Telling that dark story of Anakin Skywalker was important for George, but this was a chance to show Anakin before that. Anakin as a hero, Anakin as the good guy, Anakin more like his son," Luke Skywalker, of the original trilogy.

The Anakin in "Clone Wars" is a hybrid of Luke and his rascally ally, Han Solo, Filoni said.

"He's cocky like Han, he can do a lot of things like Han, he's clever with machines like Han. But he's naive like Luke. The whole galaxy is a bit overwhelming," Filoni said.

The movie presents all of the key characters from Anakin's world: Jedi masters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu and Yoda; Anakin's future wife Padme Amidala; androids R2-D2 and C-3PO; gangster Jabba the Hutt; villain Count Dooku; and Palpatine, the galaxy's evil emperor in waiting.

Characters not seen in the live-action movies include conniving assassin Asajj Ventress; Jabba's sinister uncle, a giant slug that speaks with a Truman Capote-like Southern drawl; and Captain Rex, a loyal member of Anakin's clone crew.

The main newcomer is Ahsoka Tano, a teenage girl from an exotic alien species who's assigned as Anakin's Jedi apprentice. With mischievous wit, Ahsoka breaks down Anakin's stiff facade and reluctance to take on a student, the two establishing a flippant rapport as they slice up droids with their light-sabers, scale a daunting summit on a rescue mission and play nursemaid to Jabba's kidnapped baby son.

"She definitely brings a fun side out of Anakin. I think they have such a great relationship," said Ashley Eckstein, who provides Ahsoka's voice. "Ahsoka is very eager to prove herself, and I don't think she would allow Anakin not to accept her."

The movie offers a glimpse of the inner turmoil that contributes to Anakin's turn to the dark side. Crash-landing on his home planet of Tatooine, Anakin momentarily bears a haunted look as he's asked about the desert world, where he exacted a savage revenge over the death of his mother in "Attack of the Clones."

"I was hoping I'd never have to lay eyes on this dustball again," Anakin says.

Opening with a variation on John Williams' familiar "Star Wars" theme, the movie is heavy on humor. [b/]Anakin devises an amusing low-tech way for him and Ahsoka to sneak inside a droid energy shield. Obi-Wan engages in a witty surrender negotiation with a general who speaks in a Sean Connery brogue. When a droid falls off a cliff and smashes on the ground, his superior leans over and barks, "Get back here, sergeant."

A few veteran "Star Wa

 

Wow, that's a really good review. They're comparing it to the swashbuckling adventure that is A New Hope. That's saying something. They said they felt like they were watching the original trilogy. Great!

 

Sounds pretty sweet, but "sky guy" sounds as bad as "punky muffin."

 

nerf herder?

 

Not exactly a new thing in terms of nicknames.

- Walking carpet
- Fuzzball
- Highnessness

 

Sky Guy sounds kinda cute/funny. I don't mind it.

I'm more worried about the southern accent on a Hutt. Why, Lucas, why!

 

Well, the review was pretty interesting...Well, from what I could read without highlighting.

 

I guess I should comment about the review itself.

I'm thrilled to see a positive reaction, even though I have no idea what kind of credibility the AP holds as far as movie reviews(and I'm not even sure if this even qualifies as a review. I can't tell if the reviewer was giving his own opinion by saying it felt like the OT, or if he was just trying to paraphrase lines given by Lucas and co). I know it shouldn't matter to me, but I enjoy seeing love for Star Wars in the press.

With all of the positive early reviews for the episode shown and now the movie, my expectations are pretty high for this series. Don't let me down, Filoni, or there will be hell to pay! (And by hell to pay, I mean I'm going to write a strongly worded letter and then forget to send it.)

 

This sounds like a really good review. I'm relieved to see that they'll be portraying Anakin in a positive light. We've always heard that he was a good friend to Obi-Wan, but we haven't had a chance to see it that in depth. From all of the reviews, both the TV show review and this recent one, the general consensus is that it 'feels' like Star Wars. To me, that's one of the most important things about the movie and TCW. I want it to feel like I'm watching Star Wars, feel like I'm taken back into that world. I can't wait.

 

Nice, thanks GARTH!

This was my favourite part.

It is a positive review, although it doesn't get into much detail. Nothing is said about the plot or twists but mainly about entertainment, which is interesting. But they all come hand in hand anyway.

Sweet.

 

Here's another review.

"Clone Wars": Film Revives "Star Wars" Fun
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/17/clone-wars-film-revives-s_n_113242.html

 

Really? So that scene in RotS where he tells the Chancellor that Obi-wans fate will be the same as both of theirs is not that in depth? Nah, I am kidding. I get what you're saying though. And that's one thing I am really hoping to see out of the CW (movies and series).

Just caught that, and that's awesome. I was hoping we will see some of his darker moments. Seeing it in the movie will be even better.

I hate to break it to you AnakinBrego...but that is the same review.

 

I'm glad the movie sounds entertaining. I'm very excited. But it really going to annoy me to hear critics say stuff like "SW is back"

Revenge of the Sith was an excellent movie and my personal favorite of the entire saga.

 

When Revenge came out, I said to myself "this is the best of the six SW movies...but maybe I'm just saying that because it's new. Once I rewatch it a few times and it settles in, its ranking will probably sink somewhere slightly lower than ANH and ESB."

My opinion still has not changed...but it's been three yeras now. I would have thought the shine would have worn off by now, you know? But I still watch it periodically and I am still find myself wowed by it.

Still, even thought ROTS is fantastic, it still lacks the fun, laid back style and humor that the OT had. So I'm not annoyed at all to hear reviewers say that the animated series harkens back to the "fun" of the OT. I get what they mean, even as an overall fan of the PT.

 

Nice review

 

That's actually the same review.

Sorry, I should have clarified: it's an Associated Press review, which means it will be syndicated throughout many publications in North America.

 

A tinge of Anakin's dark side is visible in the animated film? As if it wasn't visible in AotC? He slaughtered an entire village of men, women, and children out of revenge. And he was okay with it.

 

Funny how they say the new General will talk.

"I'm Loathsom, Whorm Loathsom."

The Battle Droid's line to the other one that falls is hilarious.

 

New review:

SFX Review

4 STARS OUT OF FIVE

The 20th Century Fox fanfare is such an integral part of the Star Wars experience that seeing the Warner Brothers shield dissolving into ?A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...? is a rather disconcerting experience. The absence of an opening crawl ? to say what it?s been replaced with would be an unfair spoiler ? and slightly remixed theme tune do nothing but add to the suspicion that The Clone Wars comes from a very different place to the live-action movies.

But make no mistake, as soon as you?re plunged into the heart of a Jedi vs battledroids confrontation on a distant world, this is pure, unadulterated Star Wars. The characters may be heavily stylised CG caricatures of the saga?s heroes and villains, but the essence of George Lucas?s creation remains in a movie that bests at least two of the prequels. Indeed, The Clone Wars? brand of simplistic, action-heavy storytelling is a fantastic breath of fresh air after the complex political machinations that bogged down much of Episodes I and II.

The film?s biggest strength is that it?s clearly been made by fans for fans. It?s easy to picture planning meetings dissolving into sessions of ?Wouldn?t it be cool if...? particularly when Anakin leads a vertical assault on a distant temple, clone troopers and giant walkers scaling a massive cliff as Separatist fire rains down on them. The movie is packed with sequences that more than hold their own against their live-action equivalents.

And while it?s hardly Apocalypse Now, Clone Wars doesn?t sanitise the violence. Some scenes are surprisingly brutal: a battledroid grabbing a trooper by the neck before shooting him point blank is up there with the charred corpses of Luke?s aunt and uncle in the Star Wars pantheon of unpleasantness. This is the Clone Wars as many fans of the original trilogy wanted to see them, much closer to the prequels that existed in our heads than The Phantom Menace turned out to be.

As a curtain-raiser to the upcoming Clone Wars TV series ? set to continue filling the gaps between Episodes II and III ? this is an impressive statement of intent. The CG proves surprisingly effective, with the cast?s cartoony, almost puppet-like appearance perfectly suiting the material. The animation may not possess Pixar levels of complexity ? probably impossible when you?ve eventually got to churn out weekly episodes ? but with its vibrant colour scheme and simple, get-to-the-point dialogue, The Clone Wars is straight out of the comic-book school of storytelling. Needless to say, the hardware and spaceships look fantastic ? you have to look very hard to see where what you see here differs from the (admittedly just as CG) equivalents in the prequels.

Although the mention of protecting shipping lanes through the Outer Rim conjures unpleasant memories of Trade Federation blockades, the plot involving the kidnap of Jabba the Hutt?s son rarely lets the excitement levels dip ? in fact, the action?s so relentless that come the final quarter you might find yourself begging for a breather. Slug Jr proves an ingenious McGuffin, both a convincing reason for conflict between the Republic and Count Dooku?s Separatists (both sides want to keep Jabba onside) and a brilliant plot device for exploring the relationship between future Vader Anakin Skywalker and his new Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano, when they have to play nursemaid.

That the character stuff works as well as it does is a welcome surprise. Cartoon Anakin proves to be a much more likeable character than the Hayden Christensen version, suggesting he might become the rogue-ish Han Solo character the prequels lacked, while one glance between Anakin and secret missus Padme, shared via hologram, conveys more sexual chemistry than any number of musings about the romantic properties of sand.

The newbies, too, fare well, with the

 

SFX need to get over the prequels..seriously!! It's not funny anymore, any mention of SW in that magazine is seen as an opportunity to rip into the PT...And the constant fawning over Dr Who is ridiculous.

BTW EMPIRE magazine gives the movie ***/***** (3 stars)

 

Yeah. The riffs on the PT feel completely obligatory. Watch all these publications recant once the generation raised on the PT is old enough to be considered a financial power just as the OT generation is. You don't poop where you eat.

 

Ripping on the PT is necessary to set up the review. There are plenty of us who didn't like the PT, so it's a way of letting us know that they think the movie is actually good as in like the OT as opposed to 'good' as in "RotS managed to be not nearly as terrible as AotC".

Plenty of people disliked the prequels. Get over it, so we can move on to (hopefully) ALL enjoying this new movie.

 

I think those of us who do enjoy the prequels want everyone else to get over it. Yeah, we get it already, the prequels weren't what a lot of people wanted. You can't read an article about SW these days without hearing the PT getting ripped into. Either way, I'm glad to hear all the positive press so far.

 

I'm sure there are fans of Batman and Robin who hate seeing that film's name dragged through the mud in all the various news stories about The Dark Knight, too. And those films don't even share a common narrative continuity.

 

link to the full empire review:

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=135488