Latest Updates: Saturday, August 16, 2008
Last night I went to the opening of the new Star Wars The Clone Wars movie. I have written a review of the movie. This review will not include major spoilers. So you can read on without worry if you haven't seen it yet.
If we do post a review that includes major spoilers warning will be give, this review, however, will not have any major spoilers. That is to say, none of the review will give away major plot points.
Review of Star Wars The Clone Wars:
I would like to start by saying that my expectations were not high. I love Star Wars, I have been a huge fan since I was about eight years old. However, after seeing the previews, hearing bits about the movie, seeing the animation and reading the less than enthusiastic reviews from almost all of the pre-screenings, I was not expecting much.I have to admit however, that I got more than I expected.
The movie did not start out as normal Star Wars movies do, it had the familiar yellow logo, but unlike normal, Clone Wars was included in the logo. There was no yellow scrolling writing explaining the beginning of the movie, which was rather dissapointing. Instead, there was a evening news-esque voice-over giving a very short explanation of the opening scene, was was hardly and explanation at all. I can only assume that the flanneled one did this to cater to the younger audiences. I will be frank, while all of the Star Wars movies are meant for kids, as George Lucas has said before, this one is more so that way than any of the others. I will not get into details but suffice it to say if you are not a Star Wars fanboy, fangirl, or a child, you probably will not like this movie.
I of course, being a huge fanboy, enjoyed it. There were a few times when I was taken out of the moment, and it was quite clear that I was watching a movie. In other words, the immersion wasn't amazing. It was pretty lighthearted over all, more so than the other movie. The only real issue was that, as I already mentioned, this hurt it in the aspect of immersion. You rarely feel like you are a part of the movie, you rarely forget you are in a theater. While I said it exceeded my expectations, this was only because my expectations were already dismal. It was not amazing. It was an enjoyable affair and the dialogue was not as bad in my opinion, as in some of the prequels. While it was a fair bit less intense, I don't remember any scenes that caused the painful awkardness of the love scenes from Attack of the Clones which can best be described as intense failures with poor chemistry. The dialogue was still not amazing, however, it could have been worse.
The animation was like none I have ever seen before. It was actually not bad, though sometimes the characters seemed to lack expression. If you wanted to know what they were feeling you had to pay attention to what they said, visual cues were largely non-existent. The voice acting was not all that bad. The Anakin did not sound much like Hayden Christiansen, however the Obi-Wan was fairly close. I still don't think it had the sardonic edge that Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan had, which was a shame. The Yoda and the Padme were not bad either, but they still were not the same.
Overall, the movie was not as bad as I expected. However, do not expect it to be up to par with GL's previous films, even the prequels. It was enjoyable to watch as a Star Wars fan, but as in exercise in good movie making it did not do incredibly well, and it is doubtful it will be winning any awards. At the very least, George Lucas gives us the first female jedi with a prominent role, which was refreshing. The hutt's, especially Jabba's uncle, are highly amusing. And in the end it was good enough not to completely dissapoint me. As a Star Wars fan, I would have liked something better, I am not going to lie. But it wasn't absolutely dreadful, just a few steps down from the quality we had come to expect. Which is saying a fair bit, considering that the prequels are not the best of the flanneled one's work.
I give it a B-. My advice: go and see it for yourself.
Labels: Movies, The Clone Wars
Got news or questions? E-mail us at contact@theclonewarz.net.
Discuss these stories at The
Galactic Senate.
