The Clone Wars (2008)

The second of three incarnations of The Clone Wars in Star Wars. This one bears even more connective tissue to what follows compared to the original series of serial shorts—in addition to changing its animation style, it also introduces a new character who would go on to be a major player in the long-running series that comes after this. Unlike the other two Clone Wars projects, though, this isn’t a show but a feature film.

While fighting the Separatists alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker gets some surprising news: he’s been assigned a padawan. At first, he wants nothing to do with Ahsoka Tano, but the young Jedi is eager to prove she can keep up with him in the field. Together, the two are tasked with rescuing the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hutt.

After posting my review of the original Clone Wars series, I held off for a while before writing this one, since I knew it was going to take me quite some time to get through the main Clone Wars show (I’ve been conditioned for short-form series—it was hard to summon the stamina to even start a show with seven full seasons!) But I’m now in season 3 of The Clone Wars and liking it a lot, so I’m able to compare the movie to both the original series and the later one.

As I said, we switched up the animation style here, trading the 2-D look of the original series for a CGI style that continues through into the next series. It’s still not my favorite aesthetic (three seasons in, I’m starting to get used to it,) but for me, this is an improvement on the original. The action scenes are definitely better rendered here.

As far as the story goes, the movie takes certain things from the original series, such as Obi-Wan’s cool Clone Trooper armor and the character of Count Dooku’s apprentice Asajj Ventress. But unsurprisingly, a full-length film has much more room to flesh out its main narrative than a series of three-to-four-minute shorts. Things flow better, and we get more intrigue. Not everything works—the central mission of rescuing Jabba’s son is just all right, and let’s just say that Stinky, as Ahsoka calls him, is no Grogu.

Speaking of Ahsoka, Anakin may have misgivings about his padawan, but she’s certainly one after his own heart. She’s bold and reckless, with a playful sense of humor and a huge desire to show she’s not the “youngling” people think she is. She can be a little too try-hard here and in the early episodes of the subsequent series—as far as nicknames go, I’m not a fan of her calling Anakin “Sky Guy”—but I do enjoy her. And I already know that her character improves quickly in the next series.

The cast, again, mostly carries over from the original series and continues into the next one. James Arnold Taylor remains an eerily good Obi-Wan, and Matt Lanter is excellent as Anakin. I also enjoy Catherine Taber as Padmé, who has her own side plot on Tatooine. Ashley Eckstein fits in well joining the cast as Ahsoka, though as I said, I like her better later on. Another new cast member is Dee Bradley Baker, who takes on the voices of all the clones. He’s a white voice actor playing a bunch of canonically brown characters, which is definitely an issue, but I can’t deny his talent in playing these roles.

Warnings

Violence, some “don’t try this at home,” thematic elements, and a white actor playing characters of color.