George Lucas returns to The Force with “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” an animated opus meant to slot in somewhere between episodes II and III of the live-action series.
As usual with Lucas lately, The Force may not be especially strong, but it is shrewd. Geared toward younger viewers, this installment of the space odyssey is meant as a platform for a new cartoon TV series.
The key phrase in all of this is “geared for younger viewers.” In plot terms, “The Clone Wars” is rather pleasingly simple: Despite all the confusing exposition about the Empire and trade agreements, the story is about a kidnapping and rescue; that’s really it.
The characters are familiar from parts I-III of the saga, although they are (with a few exceptions) voiced by unknown actors here. Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi knight who will someday turn into Darth Vader, is sent on a mission to retrieve the blobby son of Jabba the Hutt.
The mini-Hutt has been kidnapped by henchmen of the evil Count Dooku. Anakin is joined by Ahsoka, a young Jedi-in-training. Her supposedly adorable bickering with Anakin forms most of the movie’s comic relief.
There’s also Obi-Wan Kenobi, and devious Chancellor Palpatine, and croaky old Yoda. Also thousands of computer-generated clone warriors, who are given the movie’s dumbest one-liners.
Some characters have been elevated to prominent status, including the bald villainess Asajj Ventress and Jabba’s slimy relative, Ziro the Hutt, who sounds like Truman Capote on a bad day.
Curiously, with all the digital muscle at his disposal, Lucas has designed the characters in a style that makes them look like the wooden marionettes from the old “Thunderbirds” TV show. There are a lot of heavy eyebrows on view.
The rest of the animation, a non-stop barrage of bodies and planetary landscapes, makes you feel as if you’re trapped inside a video game. Some of it’s handsome, a lot of it’s chaotic, and all of it is at the service of that tin-ear Lucas dialogue (even if the movie is officially written by a team of writers, and directed by Henry Gilroy).
“Clone Wars” is good enough to keep the “Star Wars” nation happy, and it should get kids hooked on the next TV show. Not sure what other point there is to it. Lucas is truly the master of the Empire — or is it master of him?
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