Taking Another Kick at the Star Wars Can

Gosh darn it, I like Star Wars.

I can’t say I love Star Wars though, not anymore. Like the majority of us that saw the 3 prequels, I lost the love, but I still remember that love fondly. I could never dislike all of Star Wars, that would be too difficult. Too much of my youth was centered around it, watching it whenever it was on TV, when it came out on VHS, Laser Disc (yeah, that’s right), and then DVDs. And then it was back in the theaters, all cleaned up and messed up with the whole who-shot-first fiasco, and then the shiny was pressed onto DVDs again.

And then… Episode 1 killed me.

This past summer a new wave of Star Wars crested to attempt and make a splash… only, I wasn’t even at the beach to see it happen. The movie “The Clone Wars” was an attempt the refreshen the franchise, a chance to change how Star Wars stories were told. Some changes to the Star Wars formula were made, and it’d bring Star Wars to audiences in a whole new way; as a animated movie.

Well… it was sorta new. Kinda.

(spoilers are labeled within)

Yeah. You are not wrong. It was done before… and it was canon material from Mr. Lucas and friends too.

Star Wars: Clone Wars was a set of short television episodes that aired in 2003. Like 2008’s summer Clone Wars movie, the television series was also a cartoon. But, don’t confuse the two; Clone Wars takes place right after Episode II, where as The Clone Wars takes place… uuh, right after Episode II.

OK, so perhaps they need a change in marketing personnel, but when I first caught wind, I was truly hoping that the excellent TV shorts were being made into a movie, with that look and feel. I was stoked! I was ready to take a second kick at the Star Wars can. I even bought into the hype! And then the first poster came out and I was slack-jawed at the change in animation style altogether. I pulled myself together and waited patiently, with a lingering sense of concern and doubt, for the first clips of the movie to be released.

And then I saw them and all hopes were crushed.

They’d really blown it for me. This was going to be nothing like the television shorts.

I made a decision right then and there to skip the movie… a first for me. I’d stuck through the freakin’ prequels, but gave up after Vader’s appearance that finished off the trilogy. The television cartoons had given me hope that the Lucas Machine was rallying with the new movie’s disappointment with fans, but at this point they just lost me when they changed direction altogether yet again.

Blame it on marketing and branding problems. Blame it on being unable to meet fan expectations. Blame it on fans for expecting the impossible. It didn’t matter. I was done with anything Star Wars, unless it was to do with A New Hope through Return of the Jedi.

Well, something happened this past fall. A buddy of mine asked if I’d seen the new television series based on the 2008 movie. He wanted a fan’s perspective before taking the time to watch it, but I had nothing.

Then this winter I got in touch with him again, and he told me that he was really enjoying it, and was surprised I’d not yet jumped back onto the bandwagon.

And despite him hyping it up, I still passed.

Well, fast forward a couple months later and you find me in front of my TV last night, taking a third kick at the Star Wars can. I watched The Clone Wars movie.

Overall thoughts? Not bad. Better than I expected actually. I’m not saying I loved it though, but I cannot say I hated it.

(start spoiler warning - scroll down to skip to the end of the spoiler section)

 

First with the bad - why is it that I really get gagged when shows center around holding a baby hostage as a major plot point? I don’t know why it annoys the bejeeeeebus out of me, but it does. Heck, I’m even a parent now! You’d think it’d ring more true for me… but it just makes me wanna hurl with “Oh give me a break!” spew. Yeap, there’s a baby in this movie, and saving him is what it is all about.

OK, so even with that gag-a-thon of an issue, it was my only big beef with the movie.

There were a couple other “Oh please” moments, but then again… so was the whole ewoks overpowering the Empire angle in ROTJ.

So, I guess the “good” is that the baby is the worst part of the movie. And even though it is the central plot behind the flick, I still managed to get through the movie without throwing a shoe at my TV!

 

(end spoiler warning - the rest is safe)

But the visual style? Did not bother me upon viewing. I expected it to really bug me, but it works perfectly fine.

The overall story?

Not bad, I guess? Actually, it was a little weak if you ask me, but the battles were decent, the pacing was good… characters were interesting, it’s just the central plot mechanism that urked me (spoiler explained that for those who skipped). But overall? Not bad.

But was it an enjoyable watch?

It really was. I think I’ll start watching for the new television series and start PVRing it based on watching the movie last night. I’m going to check and see if it’s available for watching “on demand” through digital cable tonight. If it is, I’ll start watching it soon.

Can I recommend others that avoided The Clone Wars in theaters to take the time to watch it?

I sure can! Just go in with the same mind set as I did; I went in expecting the worst, and came out with a pleasant surprise.

I really do hope that this third kick at the can will rejuvenate my interest in the Star Wars saga; despite my disappointment in the franchise over the past decade, I feel that I can get over it if the animated television series proves to be as good, or better, than the animated movie was. I’ve got some catching up to do though. I’ll let you know what I think when I get through the episodes that have already aired… good or bad.