Sidewalks On The Corner

Filmmaker George Lucas returns to his Star Wars universe, but this time in animated form. Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Count Dooku, and Mace Windu are back in “STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.”

Follow up:

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS
Warner Bros. Pictures / Lucasfilm Limited
Opening Date: Friday, August 15, 2008 (Wide)
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for SCI-FI ACTION VIOLENCE THROUGHOUT, BRIEF LANGUAGE AND MOMENTARY SMOKING.
Directed by: Dave Filoni
Executive Producer: George Lucas
Voice Cast: Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker; Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano; James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi; Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex and the Clone Troopers; Tom Kane as Yoda; Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress; Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine; Anthony Daniels as C-3PO; Christopher Lee as Count Dooku; and Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu

STUDIO SYNOPSIS
STAR WARS takes on a dazzling new look in the first-ever animated feature from Lucasfilm Animation – STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.

As the Clone Wars sweep through the galaxy, the heroic Jedi Knights struggle to maintain order and restore peace. More and more systems are falling prey to the forces of the dark side as the Galactic Republic slips further and further under the sway of the Separatists and their never-ending droid army.

Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano find themselves on a mission with far-reaching consequences, one that brings them face-to-face with crime lord Jabba the Hutt. But Count Dooku and his sinister agents, including the nefarious Asajj Ventress, will stop at nothing to ensure that Anakin and Ahsoka fail at their quest.

Meanwhile, on the front lines of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda lead the massive clone army in a valiant effort to resist the forces of the dark side ...

The voice cast features Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker; Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano; James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi; Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex and the Clone Troopers; Tom Kane as Yoda; Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress; Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine; Anthony Daniels as C-3PO; Christopher Lee as Count Dooku; and Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu.

The Lucasfilm Ltd. production of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS is directed by Dave Filoni; written by Henry Gilroy, Steven Melching and Scott Murphy; and produced by Catherine Winder. George Lucas serves as executive producer.

The movie features a score by Kevin Kiner, with original STAR WARS themes and scores by John Williams. The creative team for STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS also includes editor Jason W.A. Tucker; supervising sound editor Matthew Wood; and animation directors Jesse Yeh and Kevin Jong. Gail Currey is the Lucasfilm Animation executive in charge of production.

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS will be distributed worldwide in theaters by Warner Bros. pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

RICHARD’s TAKE
So, if you want to know what happen between “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” and “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,”.then you are in luck. Well, sort of. The animated feature, from the new Lucasfilm Animation division, is amazingly a simple plot. Anakin (voiced by Matt Lanter) becomes a “big brother/teacher” to a smart-mouth teen-aged Padawan student, Ahsoka (Ashley Eckstein), who joins him on the search and rescue for Jubba The Hut’s baby son, Rotta the Hutt (Yes, the big old crime boss had a child). As you can expect, the film has many battle sequences and the heroes are in the thick of things.

What is surprising about the animated film, the computer generated imagery (CGI) background doesn’t feel much difference between the live-action “Star Wars” and this animated form. While I was expecting Lucas to go crazy in the endless possibilities of animation, the ships, set dressing, and battle sequences looked somewhat the same to me. The only thing that gets in the way is the shape and style of the characters. Instead of an anime-type of appeal, Lucas and staff decided to give Anakin, Obi-Wan and friends a more wooden appearance. They looked like someone chiseled the characters from a piece of wood; they even walk liked they all are C-3PO in disguise. Beyond the “artistic” style of the characters, I must give credit to Lucasfilm Animation for creating a stunning background for the characters to live in. It looked like a 3-D world on the planets and in space.

Director Dave Filoni and screenwriters Henry Gilroy, Steven Melching, and Scott Murphy try to give the characters some personality…and humor. For instance, the writers gave the Ahsoka character many one-liners (she was constantly nagging at Anakin throughout the whole film). Personally, I think the attempted dialogue in the animated film was better than the dialogue and performance of the real life actors in the roles. Sorry, Hayden Christensen (Anakin in the live action films), but your cartoon counterpart had more personality and charm.

Majority of the main actors from the live-action films are not voicing their characters, except for Christopher Lee (Count Dooku), Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu), and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO). Matthew Wood, a longtime employee of Skywalker Sound, returns as the voice of General Grievous and the Battle droids.

Now the animated film doesn’t come to close to any of the live action films or the epic “Star Wars”-storyline you would expect, but it does setup the forthcoming animated TV series with the same name. (Cartoon Network will be premiering the 39-episode, animated series in the fall). I just wished the feature-length story would be a little bigger in scope instead of a kidnapping plot. In any case, I think the TV series would spotlight the characters better in an episodic form. So, think of “The Clone Wars” film as the opening episode for more things to come.