I don’t typically mention video games in my reviews, but The Clone Wars unavoidably made me think of one: BioWare’s masterpiece Knights of the Old Republic, which offered an unforgettable take on George Lucas’s galaxy by taking place 4000 years before any of the movies and giving itself carte blanche to add to the series’ history, creating not only an origin story for Tattooine but for the entire Star Wars galaxy. More than one critic called it the best thing to happen to the series since The Empire Strikes Back. I love Return of the Jedi, but I wouldn’t dispute that.

I couldn’t help but think of KOTOR during The Clone Wars which, like other questionable cinematic Star Wars properties released in the last nine years, attaches itself too rigidly to the existing material. A world like Star Wars, rooted in myth, was never meant to be defined by a consistent socio-political reality. Who cares about the physics behind an AT walker or planet-sized spaceship or how they were financed or how the grim reaper who was apparently the hero’s father came to have control over them? The grim reaper was a tragic badass and the technology looked cool, dammit!

The prequel trilogy attempted to explain these things without offering a compelling reason to care about them, within a structure that was too faithful to the existing movies. Also, unlike KOTOR, it was in the hands of George Lucas, who’s allowed his his gut instinct of what a 10-year-old would like, sudden interest in politics and atrocious dialogue (I’ve seen the original Star Wars more times than I care to count, and it wasn’t that bad) to nearly eclipse his flair for action sequences. Unsurprising that the best thing to come out of the new trilogy was Genndy Tartakovsky’s existing Clone Wars series – which, like KOTOR, freed itself from certain aspects of the world (physics, politics) to strengthen others (action sequences, character development, philosophy).

The Clone Wars was not written or directed by Lucas, although it was supervised by him, so it carries both the strength of new blood (Dave Filoni, who directed several episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender) and the weakness of fidelity to the existing material. The music, by one Kevin Kiner, occasionally moves beyond the blueprint established by John Williams, offering Asian and Middle-Eastern themes for two of the planets.

Another advantage is The Clone Wars’ introduction of and focus on a new character, Ahsoka Tano (voiced by one Ashley Eckstein). Though not quite the protagonist (Anakin, voiced here by TV actor Matt Lanter, still comes off as that), she’s easily the most interesting character, because she’s not defined by existing baggage and we know anything could happen to her.

Speaking of Anakin, he’s a bit more interesting in this movie, heroic but with some of the chaotic edge that led to his becoming Darth Vader (and which was poorly hinted at in the prequel trilogy).

This is a Star Wars movie, so dialogue is primarily there to describe what’s happening on screen. It sounds better than it did in the prequel trilogy, though the banter between Ahsoka and Anakin is atrocious.

I must admit I found the animation off-putting. The stylized characters that worked in Tartakovsky’s series don’t translate all that well to 3D, and the lightsaber battles are obviously staged and appear to be conducted by action figures. I understand what reviewers meant when they said lightsaber battles in KOTOR were impressive – inThe Clone Wars, they simply aren’t smooth.

Die-hard fans of the series who weren’t fazed by the prequels will eat this up. Those of us who Lucas lost can wait for the video. Or forego it entirely. You won’t be missing anything.






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