After a lengthy hiatus from movies reviewing - broken in July 2015 by my still ongoing marathon tribute to Christopher Lee - I return intermittently to both with this, ironically my first ever STAR WARS-related write-up. Obviously, I came to this in the wake of the latest entry in the saga; I must admit that, while I enjoyed the initial movies in my childhood days, they had lost much of their charm growing up - and the notorious tweaking done to them by George Lucas did not help, either.
The second trilogy to be filmed (which actually comes first in the chronology of the saga - you know the drill, by now!) was justly lambasted by critics as a massive come-down from the originals (save for the third, which possessed some undeniable gravitas amid the gadget-laden action). Incidentally, the movie under review could well have been titled "Episode 2.5" - which rather begs the question as to why return to a goodly Anakin Skywalker at all, having witnessed his definite crossover to The Dark Side 3 years previously; with this in mind, I sure hope we do not get to see Kylo Ren's own 'transformation' - from EPISODE VII - somewhere down the line, which would simply amount to a mercenary act in order to pump some more money into the already over-burdened franchise! Another link between THE CLONE WARS and EPISODE VII is the fact that we have a female heroine - here an aspiring Jedi taken (initially reluctantly) under his wing by Anakin Skywalker.
The hardly-exciting plot involves the kidnapping of the slimy Jabba The Hut's infant son (unamusingly dubbed "Stinky" throughout) by Count Dooku, who then conspires to frame Skywalker for the deed - so that Jabba's loyalty within the intergalactic arena lies with the Separatists rather than with the Resistance. While the animation is certainly no great shakes, the film is not unwatchable for what it is - though I can see how a fanatic of the series, who even likes the middle (i.e. 1999-2005) trilogy, would be disappointed by the inherent dullness and utter lack of purpose of this particular venture! For the record, only 3 actors from the series accepted to also lend their vocal talents to this, namely Anthony Daniels as the ubiquitous C3PO, Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu and Lee as Count Dooku; the latter is typically authoritative but, apart from one lightsaber duel with Skywalker, he does little more than connive or otherwise coach and chide his would-be deadly underling. On a final confusing note for the uninitiated, there were similarly-titled TV series in 2003 and - immediately following this - in 2008.
The second trilogy to be filmed (which actually comes first in the chronology of the saga - you know the drill, by now!) was justly lambasted by critics as a massive come-down from the originals (save for the third, which possessed some undeniable gravitas amid the gadget-laden action). Incidentally, the movie under review could well have been titled "Episode 2.5" - which rather begs the question as to why return to a goodly Anakin Skywalker at all, having witnessed his definite crossover to The Dark Side 3 years previously; with this in mind, I sure hope we do not get to see Kylo Ren's own 'transformation' - from EPISODE VII - somewhere down the line, which would simply amount to a mercenary act in order to pump some more money into the already over-burdened franchise! Another link between THE CLONE WARS and EPISODE VII is the fact that we have a female heroine - here an aspiring Jedi taken (initially reluctantly) under his wing by Anakin Skywalker.
The hardly-exciting plot involves the kidnapping of the slimy Jabba The Hut's infant son (unamusingly dubbed "Stinky" throughout) by Count Dooku, who then conspires to frame Skywalker for the deed - so that Jabba's loyalty within the intergalactic arena lies with the Separatists rather than with the Resistance. While the animation is certainly no great shakes, the film is not unwatchable for what it is - though I can see how a fanatic of the series, who even likes the middle (i.e. 1999-2005) trilogy, would be disappointed by the inherent dullness and utter lack of purpose of this particular venture! For the record, only 3 actors from the series accepted to also lend their vocal talents to this, namely Anthony Daniels as the ubiquitous C3PO, Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu and Lee as Count Dooku; the latter is typically authoritative but, apart from one lightsaber duel with Skywalker, he does little more than connive or otherwise coach and chide his would-be deadly underling. On a final confusing note for the uninitiated, there were similarly-titled TV series in 2003 and - immediately following this - in 2008.