Warning Full Spoilers for “The Clone Wars Movie” are Below 

I have long championed Star Wars: The Clone Wars as some of the best Star Wars storytelling out there. In fact, I have dubbed it one of my favorite TV shows of all time. WIth that being said, I do have to admit that the iconic cartoon is not without its flaws, which have never been more present than with the release of “The Clone Wars Movie”.

The Clone Wars movie was first released in theaters back in 2008 and I feel bad for anyone who was first introduced to the show in this fashion. The film took what was essentially four episodes and pushed them all together to make a feature-length film. The four episode structure was extremely apparent as TV episodes are crafted very differently from films, which really shows in this instance. The Clone Wars Movie felt disjointed, boring and a little superfluous.

The plot centers around Anakin, Obi-Wan and newly introduced (at the time) Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka is Anakin’s new Padawan who has been assigned to him by Master Yoda himself. The story takes place shortly after the events of “Cat and Mouse” and ”Hidden Enemy.” The Battle of Christophsis was hard fought and is tipping in the Jedi’s favor. Now that the battle has ended in the Republic’s favor, it is time to move on to their next mission. This time they have to save Jabba the Hutt’s son Rotta from the clutches of the Separatist Alliance.

The story is what really made this film feel lackluster and made it seem like more filler than anything else. It was predictable to see how Count Dooku was deceiving Jabba and manipulating his enemies to get what the Separatists needed. Seeing the Jedi on a quest to save a baby Hutt was nothing more than a way to move along to each action set-piece.

The animation has always been one of my favorite parts of The Clone Wars, but going back to the earlier seasons really made the jump in technology apparent. The movie isn’t ugly by any stretch of the imagination though. The environments gorgeously rendered and the creature design is top notch, it was the character models that really made things stand out to me. In motion the models looked beautiful as they flipped in the air and swung their sabers. It wasn’t until they were standing still that they seemed just a little awkward.

The arms of Ahsoka and Anakin moved in strange ways that felt a little robotic, the facial animation also made some of the characters look a little goofy at times. I don’t want to criticize it too much though, as it was due to older technology they were working with at the time.

I think this movie was built more for the purpose of not only introducing Ahsoka to the audience, but also setting up her character arc and the arcs of the rest of the cast like Anakin, Obi-Wan and Captain Rex. We see how brash young Ahsoka is, always looking to prove herself with her young age. She is always ready with a snippy comment or two and ready to go on the offensive at any moment. Ahsoka is much like a young Anakin Skywalker.

Anakin this time around is mostly displeased by his position as a Master, as he feels like it will only slow him down. Anakin’s arc does change slowly throughout the movie, from something like annoyance towards his new Padawan to a much more approving, even brotherly love towards her in the end. The way this relationship evolves is my favorite part of the movie. Seeing the two quip funnily to one another was a treat and was a well written exchanges between the two made the film more tolerable in the long run.

Overall I think that The Clone Wars Movie fell a little flat with its story, but excelled at creating a brand new Star Wars series for people to fall in love with. The characters introduced here have become beloved within the community and will be remembered for years to come. In that way I think The Clone Wars Movie succeeded but in all other aspects it just couldn’t deliver.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Ahsoka’s Introduction
• Fun Action
• A great relationship between Ahsoka and Anakin

Cons

• Awkward Character Models
• Lackluster Story