Review

Review Date: 17-August-08
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Junk

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Many years have passed since I watched Saturday morning cartoons, and I must say the sudden recollection caused by The Clone Wars was not exactly pleasant. Of course, Jonny Quest and the Justice League appeared on television during brief intervals when they did not wear out their welcome, whereas the latest offering from the Lucas empire purports to warrant a big screen and 90-plus minutes, and egregiously doesn't. Dumping viewers in the middle of a story we are all supposed to know and love, this animated flick barely addresses a war and focuses on the kidnapping of an oversized baby slug. The only new character with the possibility for development is a female Jedi-in-training (voiced by Ashley Eckstein) who accompanies Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) on a rescue mission and undergoes a faint rite of passage. As in the last three Star Wars movies, the much more interesting Obi-Wan (James Arnold Taylor) is shunted to various dull assignments while other marginal characters discuss political and clandestine goings-on in the galaxy far, far away. (Taylor does a pretty good job imitating Ewan McGregor imitating Alec Guinness.) It goes without saying that there are death-dealing robots and space ships of every description, as well as an appearance by that most annoying of little green men, Yoda.

I admit to feeling a frisson of excitement whenever I see cooler-than-thou Jedi wielding light sabers in lethal combat, but such scenes do not a movie make. The only people who could find this one entertaining are those who have contemplated the HVAC unit on the Death Star and do not require an interpreter droid to understand Jabba the Hutt.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.