A galaxy too far

By Imran Syed
Daily Arts Writer  On  August 17th, 2008

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars"

Warner Bros.

At Quality 16 and Showcase

1 out of 5 stars

You can’t blame George Lucas for wanting to introduce the “Star Wars” story to the next generation, but you have to wonder what he’s thinking backing an awful production like “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” (Lucas served as the executive producer for this animated film set between episodes II and III of his prequel trilogy.) With all the immature angst, corny lines and dubious plotlines of a shoddy, Saturday morning TV show, “Clone Wars” does have one potential saving grace: This has to be rock-bottom for this once proud franchise; it can only go up from here.

The film finds our heroes Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi (not voiced by Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor, but you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference) as generals leading the Republic’s war effort against Count Dooku (still Christopher Lee) and the separatists. Just for the heck of it, their mission soon becomes to rescue the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hutt, the ugliest villain in this series — as you might remember from the very first Star Wars film.

At Anakin’s side is his new apprentice Ahsoka, who is far more annoying than fun (as it seems she was meant to be). Interjected into this story for no apparent reason, Ahsoka is pretty much the dumb blonde of the Jedi and looks, talks and acts like it (she also wears a tenth of the clothing of her male counterparts, for reasons entirely justifiable, I sure).

The rather simple plot meanders capriciously to bring in characters like Senator Amidala, Mace Windu, C-3PO and Asajj Ventress, Dooku’s Sith apprentice not seen in the other films. The film is complete in the sense that it outlines a conflict and works to resolve it, but it is so erratic a miscalculation on what a Star Wars film — even an animated one targeted at the younglings — should be that it will bring tears of sadness rather than nostalgia to most fans.

That Lucas has completely lost grip of his marvelous creation is a fact no longer debatable. As bad as some of the prequel trilogy was, it did at least maintain an aura of credibility, striving to at least emulate what made the original films great. “The Clone Wars” was clearly meant to be different (even John Williams’s iconic opening score is simplified and perverted), but it certainly couldn’t have been intended to be so bad, so sickening a failure.

What Star Wars needs is a “Batman Begins”-style reboot — and fast. Only that can save the legacy of the franchise, and maybe after a film this bad, we’ll get that reboot. Here’s to hoping that “Clone Wars” will be the “Batman and Robin”-type rock-bottom for this series.

Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:25:24 -0500