I liked how Anakin's chest/shoulder armor was reminiscent of, and foreshadowed what, Darth Vader's armor.
Yes!! I've mentioned this several times, SCI-FI, but no one else has brought it up or said anything about it as far as I know. I used to think it would have been neat if we saw such armor for the Jedi to wear in the Clone Wars in Episode III, back before it came out and my older brother and I would speculate about what we'd see, so we'd kinda have a partial explanation for at least part of the look of Vader's armor. It was nice to see something that gives Vader's armor some kind of practicality or connection to what came before. Does that make any sense? I mean, I always wondered if there was a reason for the specific look of Vader's armor, and now, with The Clone Wars, it kinda gives it a new relevance, if that make any sense. Not that it necessarily needed to be explained away; I don't think everything needs to have an explanation in the Star Wars universe, it's just something to think about and very interesting to me personally...
Great review by the way, SCI-FI!!
My wife, three kids, and I saw the first Saturday showing of the movie. Overall, I liked it. For a feature-length animated movie it was what I expected it to be, with a little more violence than I thought would be included.
My wife thought it was okay. My eight and six year old sons loved it. My 14 month old daughter (her first theatre experience is a Star Wars experience, I'm proud to say) was noisy through the trailers, but as soon as the movie started she sat quietly watching, going back and forth a few times between my wife and me, and only got restless towards the last five minutes of the movie.
The WB company logo, with no FOX logo, and no opening crawl was really weird. Plus, the opening theme music was different. Those are part of the whole Star Wars experience, and without them it threw me off and detracted from the beginning of the movie.
The vocal opening narration did seem like a news report, and reminded me of the opening for "Starship Troopers", which also had a CGI animated tv series spin-off that had a more photo-realistic style of animation. It was really good.
I often hear people complaining about shaky camera shots, in many movies, but I never had a problem with such a gimmick until this movie. The opening battle scenes were ridiculously shaky. The shakiness caused many scenes to be too blurry to see what exactly occurred.
After the non-Star Wars opening and shaky first battle, the movie seemed to calm down and was more Star Wars-like.
Reviewed by JayC on Sat August 16, 2008Ok well I have to be honest and say that as a feature-length film, animated or not, I expected a little more from this than what I got. First, it seemed like Lucas and company could not decide if they wanted to gear this movie towards kids or adult fans. The story is very simple, and there is a lot of campy type humor that Im guessing is meant to appeal towards kids. We dont even get the classic Star Wars words scrolling down the screen at the beginning to bring us up to date on whats going on. Instead we get this somewhat corny sounding narrator telling us whats happening in exaggerated, dramatic tones. Again, I assume this was done to cater to kids who dont like to read.
Now, you might think because its an animated movie that of course its going to be geared more towards kids, but then explain to me if thats the case why in the battle scenes you see Clone Troopers getting shot in the head? I mean its not graphic or anything, but it did strike me as a bit violent for a movie aimed mainly at kids.
As a Star Wars fan, I still managed to enjoy this movie for the most part. I enjoyed both new characters Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex and look forward to seeing their characters develop over the course of the upcoming television series. I also think this movie makes for a great commercial for all those cool upcoming Clone Wars toys, but I would have enjoyed it much more from the comfort of my home on the television without having to pay the $10 movie ticket. If you are not a big Star Wars fan, then I would definitely pass this one up all together.
I agree with everything JayC said, except for his very first sentence. For a feature-length animated movie it was what I expected it to be, with a little more violence than I thought would be included.
Plus, on the subject on being too violent for kids at points, don't forget about the bounty hunter heads that were brought before Jabba.
I liked how Anakin's chest/shoulder armor was reminiscent of, and foreshadowed, Darth Vader's armor.
I didn't like Ziro the Hutt calling him/herself Jabba's uncle, while it acted feminine. Hutts were hermaphroditic, and as a result, gender was more of a case of a Hutt's deliberate decision or a viewer's deduction. Often, Hutts carrying children were referred to as female, though it was entirely up to the Hutt in question as to if the distinction was accepted or not. For instance, Jiliac was referred to as a female after becoming pregnant, but Popara and Zorba still considered themselves males after birthing their respective children. In addition, some Hutts were known to take mates with each other, such as Gorga and Anachro.
Such behavior is not what I want my children to think is acceptable. That's my right and moral prerogative.
If they hadn't come out and said that this was a "cartoon" (animated feature for kids) I would have said this was a waste of CGI, because of the stylized look to the characters. When I think of serious CGI animation, I expect them to try and make everthing photo-realistic, ala "Beowulf" and "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within". Those are two of my favorite adult oriented CGI animated movies. "The Incredibles" and now "The Clone Wars" are my two favorite kid oriented CGI cartoons.
Final summation, I liked it more than I disliked it.
In case anyone did not catch this:
That Republic commander on the Star Destroyer that had the same voice as the narrator was Colonel Wulf Yularen from the original Death Star in ANH.
the trailer looked awful to me, and normally those have the best scenes. Will wait for the tivo to pick it up someday.
I'll keep this short and sweet. I really enjoyed it. Can't wait for more. Don't see what the big gripe is with some people. However, everyone is intitled to their own opinion. There was a time ( not so long ago ) when I used to let what others thought of Star Wars affect me. Not anymore. All that matters is if I enjoyed it, and I did. It had a ton of action. To all of you who didn't like it youre missing out.
I saw it earlier this evening (SPOILER WARNING!!!):
I too was a little annoyed at the narrator's voice at the beginning, but I think it was hearkening back to the old serials Lucas grew up watching. He has said many times throughout the years that he was inspired by the Saturday Matinee serials he watched as a kid, so I wasn't real suprised by it, just slightly annoyed... (lol)
The animation was wonderful, I just thought the characters' movements were sometimes stiff and not fluid enough. But the space fights were great. It definitely had the look and feel of a Star Wars movie.
Dialogue was corny at times, but I did enjoy the lightsaber fights. Obi-Wan trash-talking with Ventriss was cool. Usually it's the bad-guy doing it. But Obi-Wan was super-cool when fighting her. I rather enjoyed seeing that more-confident side of him...
And speaking of Ventriss, she really stands out as a great character in this movie, even moreso than she usually does. I enjoyed the scenes with her...
The battle scenes were all well-done; they had an almost "Saving Private Ryan" kind-of feel to them, which was good. And I liked Ashoka; it gives kids a character to relate to, but she's not helpless by any means.
LOVED Dooku in this movie, and it was even greater knowing Christopher Lee actually does the voice. Awesome...
The only two major gripes I had with this movie was one, it seemed that it was meant more for kids, which was okay I guess. Two...where was Grievous?? He's on toy shelves everywhere but not in the movie? I guess he must make an appearance later on in the series, but I was disappointed by that. Oh, and I HATE HATE HATE the goofy Battle Droids. I hated it when they changed their voices for Episode III. They sounded so silly. I prefer the cold, monotone voices they had in Episodes I and II. HATE 'em... (lol)
Overall, it was a pretty-cool movie, and definitely one kids will get into. I still think the first Clone Wars cartoon mini-series is the gold standard, even over the second one. But this one's a nice little romp. The visuals are great. And I enjoyed the score so much that I went out afterwards and bought the soundtrack, last one Wally-World had even. (Oh and BTW, Entertainment Weekly gave it an F!! (lol) Rarely, if ever, have I seen them give a movie and F-rating, but they did. They gave Tropic Thunder an A, which is equally rare for a comedy, and makes me want to see it even more...)
The nicknames bothered me a little after awhile but I think they were doing that to show the tension between Anakin and Ashoka. The whole point of having them paired is to move Anakin to the next level of responsibilty and by having him be annoyed by someone annoying helps get him there. This way we can see a solid level of respect form in their relationship. Similar to what Anakin and Obi-Wan went through together.To explain why Jabba might not remember the name Skywalker. He was usually high or drunk or both. He almost always has his hookah pipe in his mouth.
I'm not sure what was going on with Ziro speaking english. He would have been better with a translator that spoke with that voice.
The narration at the beginning was to me like a news report explaining what was happening. Anakin was supposed to become like a celebrity to the masses during the Clone Wars and it reminded me of a tabloid show like Entertainment Tonight talking about the latest happenings. Like a quick recap at the beginning of the show.
You make some good points. I forgot about the hookah pipe. To me the narration did sound like a news report but what would of showed that better is if it showed some kind of news reporter on a big screen in Coruscant.
The nicknames bothered me a little after awhile but I think they were doing that to show the tension between Anakin and Ashoka. The whole point of having them paired is to move Anakin to the next level of responsibilty and by having him be annoyed by someone annoying helps get him there. This way we can see a solid level of respect form in their relationship. Similar to what Anakin and Obi-Wan went through together.
To explain why Jabba might not remember the name Skywalker. He was usually high or drunk or both. He almost always has his hookah pipe in his mouth.
I'm not sure what was going on with Ziro speaking english. He would have been better with a translator that spoke with that voice.
The narration at the beginning was to me like a news report explaining what was happening. Anakin was supposed to become like a celebrity to the masses during the Clone Wars and it reminded me of a tabloid show like Entertainment Tonight talking about the latest happenings. Like a quick recap at the beginning of the show.
I saw it yesterday. Be warned, my post may contain spoilers...
First off, the lack of scrolling text at the beginning made me cringe. It wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't have that annoying voice actor saying it so dramatically... Then, later in the movie one of the clone admirals had the same voice actor... I couldn't understand half of what he said and just tried to tune him out.
After that, it got better and the animation is top notch. I even got past most of the corny dialogue but the nicknames between Anakin and Ashoka just got annoying... "Snips, Sky Guy, Artooie..." The Battle Droids are always humorous, even in the live action films but after a while the humor between the Battle Droids just seemed like overkill. I also found Obi-Wan stalling the separatist leader by sitting down and talking to him very rediculous. But then again, that particular separatist leader didn't seem so bright... I didn't mind the plot so much but it did seem rather weak. Ziro the Hutt didn't annoy me too much but his voice was definately stereotypical. The lightsaber fights and battles between the clones and droids were awesome.
A couple of minor gripes about continuation... After Anakin saves Jabba's son and Jabba knows his name is "Skywalker" shouldn't Jabba remember the name "Skywalker" in ROTJ? Or is Jabba's memory poor? Speaking of Jabba... Why is it that Ziro can speak english but Jabba can't? Also, if Ashoka or Rex don't die in the series, (which they probably won't because it is a cartoon) their lack of appearance or mention in ROTS will be disappointing. And last, but not least, I REALLY hope that Anakin doesn't fight General Grievous at any point in the series.
Overall, I enjoyed it a lot minus a couple of things. It's definately worth seeing and is a great start to the series, but don't go into the theater with high expectations.
Reviewed by JayC on Sat August 16, 2008Ok well I have to be honest and say that as a feature-length film, animated or not, I expected a little more from this than what I got. First, it seemed like Lucas and company could not decide if they wanted to gear this movie towards kids or adult fans. The story is very simple, and there is a lot of campy type humor that Im guessing is meant to appeal towards kids. We dont even get the classic Star Wars words scrolling down the screen at the beginning to bring us up to date on whats going on. Instead we get this somewhat corny sounding narrator telling us whats happening in exaggerated, dramatic tones. Again, I assume this was done to cater to kids who dont like to read.
Now, you might think because its an animated movie that of course its going to be geared more towards kids, but then explain to me if thats the case why in the battle scenes you see Clone Troopers getting shot in the head? I mean its not graphic or anything, but it did strike me as a bit violent for a movie aimed mainly at kids.
As a Star Wars fan, I still managed to enjoy this movie for the most part. I enjoyed both new characters Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex and look forward to seeing their characters develop over the course of the upcoming television series. I also think this movie makes for a great commercial for all those cool upcoming Clone Wars toys, but I would have enjoyed it much more from the comfort of my home on the television without having to pay the $10 movie ticket. If you are not a big Star Wars fan, then I would definitely pass this one up all together.
I think they were trying to make it appeal to older and younger viewers. I though the dialogue was better than the 3 prequels and not that corny.
It's animated so of caurse it will be somewhat aimed at kids but at the same time it is a "war" so we will see people getting shot. It looks like it is aimed at adults by having the viloence and some lightheartedness for the kids because you can't keep kids away from anything animated. I thought it had a nice even mixture of what it needed to appeal to all audiences but not too much of anything that would make one side dislike it.
It was no worse than Yoda stabbing a Clone Trooper in ROTS and kids saw that too. Not to mention the severed limbs and beheadings, stanglings and people burning to death in all of the films.
