Not Long Ago In Theater Near, Near To Me.

I finally made it see the Star Wars:Clone Wars cartoon today. (I was surprised when it was sold out Friday.) Prior to seeing it I had jumbled thoughts about the flick. I wanted to love it, but assumed it would dissapoint the fan in me. I worried that this was a movie that would be better served existing solely as an idea or two minute trailer.

The low expectations I carried into the theater were not exactly exceeded as the movie started. I already knew that with Warner Bros., not Twentieth Century Fox, distributing the movie there would be no Fox drumbeat and fanfare that usually brings goosebumps as it signals the start of a Star Wars flick. I was dissapointed, however, when there was no golden, exposition-setting crawl fading off into outer space. Instead, we got a quick voiceover setup from an announcer with a gameshow style, "Johnny, tell him what he's won..." voice. That and a remixed(?) theme song had me shifting uncomfortably in my seat. Thank goodness it got better from there.

This movie itself is by no measure great, but it did exceed my tamped down expectations. Like in the prequels, the story is thin and the dialouge is brutal. There are other lesser dissapointments that threatened to sink the pic. The human characters look pretty cheesy. Although, the cartoon Anakin may be less wooden than Hayden Christiansen's portrayal. There is not nearly enough Mace Windu (considering the awesomeness of his previous two minute Clone Wars cartoon short and that they actually had Sam Jackson doing the voice). And there is a Hutt character that not only is a waste of a plot point that really isn't neccesary to advance the story, but is also a pretty bad stereotype. I know there is a better comparison that is currently eluding me so, for now, think Rerun from "What's Happening".

I did say I actually liked the movie, right? Here's why. Besides the poorly animated human faces, which are great for Madden '08 but bad for a cartoon that has as touchstones six movies starring real humans, the movie looks fantastic. There is a particularly visually stunning laser battle that unfolds vertically on a sheer cliff face. The machines, aliens, and especially the clone troopers, all look excellent. The space battles are cool, as are the lightsaber duels. This movie may dissapoint hard core fans, but it will join the other six movies on my DVD shelf. That's because it contains enough to remind me why I love Star Wars- it stirs the imagination and, for two hours, transports me to a galaxy far, far away.