Author Topic: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread  (Read 30442 times)

Offline JangoTat

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #60 on: August 18, 2008, 04:56 PM »
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I don't know how many theaters around you guys were showing it, but I think part of the small weekend take was that a lot of theaters aren't showing it

I thought two of them in my area was but I found out yesterday that although one place had posters and signs everywhere.. they never even got it. And the theatre that does have it only has 4 movie times for it.The only other theatre I know thats playing it is in the next little city and I know that one is going all out as my buddy was telling me.

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Just going on the reaction of the crowd in the theater I was in (200 5-9 year olds and their fathers), I was really surprised by the low box office numbers.

Same thing happened when I watched it. The theatre had about half capacity all being parents and their younglings yet it was surprisingly quite as all the kids just couldnt get their eyes off the screen.
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Offline Muftak

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #61 on: August 18, 2008, 05:34 PM »
I guess if its going to be animated anyways, I prefer things like Pixar's stuff (Incredibles, Nemo, etc.) that looks "cartoony" instead of the Final Fantasy type animated stuff.  For some reason, that stuff has always sort of creeped me out.

That phenomenon is called the uncanny valley. I have been fascinated by it for a few years myself.

I'm genuinely surprised at the negative reactions. Then again, I've been watching the 20th anniversary edition of the Transformers Movie cartoon recently and enjoying every second of it...so I know my taste goes more towards the cheesy and low-tech.

Offline I Am Sith

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #62 on: August 18, 2008, 10:07 PM »
I went in with very moderate expectations and I wasn't disappointed at the end.  I knew that the animation wasn't going to be up to par for the big screen, but it wasn't like trying to watch a 480i signal on a 1080i HDTV.  I expected the dialogue to be geared so that younger kids could follow it, but it wasn't so dummied down that I felt I was being talked down to.  I also expected the plot to be something that could be wrapped up in three to four episodes of the TV show and it was.  So, I actually enjoyed my Friday night when I saw it.

The animation was a bit hard to get used to in the beginning, but it was acceptable after about 20 minutes.  I liked seeing some of the aliens/characters in cartoon form (IG Droids, Rodians, Jawas).  I thought that the Battle Droid dialogue was great, especially when Anakin and crew started their assault on the monastery.  Lastly, although it was only a small bit of dialogue, I liked how some of the original cast members lent their voices to the characters (Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee most of all).  Oh, and I didn't mind Ziro... There's got to be one backstabbing weasel in every family, right?!

Now I will say this, the nicknames need to end, immediately.  If there's one thing that's pretty evident from the movies is that there is a level of respect that is expected to be shown toward your Jedi Knight/Master when you are a Padawan.  That is lacking big time and needs to be corrected.  The self proclaimed greatest of all the Jedi would demand that from any of his padawans...  This isn't Han calling Luke 'kid', this is a Jedi Knight and his 'young apprentice'...

Also, we need some more tough bad guys.  Dooku and Ventress were really good in the movie, but that was about it.  You can't fill in every episode with a 'send in the clowns' routine around the Battle Droids.  Bring on Durge, Grievous and the rest of the Separatist scum bags.  This is war, not slapstick.

Anyway, I think this would have been better as a two hour world premiere on TNT this Fall, but I didn't think it was terrible being released how it was.  And besides, this will give me something else to put on my Christmas list as a stocking stuffer when LFL decides to release it in 6+ different versions (full screen, wide screen, blu-ray, WM exclusive, Target Exclusive, TRU Exclusive, etc.)...
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Offline JesseVader08

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #63 on: August 18, 2008, 10:40 PM »

As soon as I heard Ebert gave it a low rating, I figured it should be pretty good.  ;)

I guess that means you don't like Star Wars movies because obvisely Roger Ebert does.

Yup, you got me all figured out.  I don't like Star Wars at all.


Offline Jayson

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #64 on: August 18, 2008, 11:02 PM »
Now I will say this, the nicknames need to end, immediately.  If there's one thing that's pretty evident from the movies is that there is a level of respect that is expected to be shown toward your Jedi Knight/Master when you are a Padawan.  That is lacking big time and needs to be corrected.  The self proclaimed greatest of all the Jedi would demand that from any of his padawans...  This isn't Han calling Luke 'kid', this is a Jedi Knight and his 'young apprentice'...

I thought that same thing initially, but then I thought it could be used as a way to show the maturity and eventual reverence between Ahsoka and Anakin as the series progresses. Anakin has always been the headstrong one in the Padawan/Master relationship and he is now paired with someone who is as obstinate and opinionated as he is. Granted it does come off as grating now but maybe that was the intended purpose.

If I were writing this series, I would eventually have Ahsoka give her life to save Anakin somehow. Anakin will blame Obi-Wan for her loss, widening the rift between them, while compounding Anakin's attachment issues for those he cares for as warned by Yoda. This could ultimately tie into Obi-Wan's failures to properly train Anakin as he said in ROTJ.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2008, 11:10 PM by Jayson »
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #65 on: August 18, 2008, 11:55 PM »
Exactly what Jayson said about the styling...  "Dumbed down" and a different style are 100% different things, and we were never ever lead to believe that CW was going to be state-of-the-art in terms of 3-D animation (this technically isn't CGI work as it's not being implemented into a realistic film as an effects tool, but rather it's an animated movie itself).  The lead-up to this hasn't been "hidden" either.  We've seen shots of all the characters at various points and in the end it's a unique style.  It's not Toy Story, or Monster's Inc., or Ice Age, or anything similar.  Like Tarkovsky's work, it's unique and stylized, and just like Tarkovsky's, it takes getting used to...

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Someone earlier mentioned that it was nice to see the Jedi still afraid of the Destroyer droids.  Adding to that, I liked the part where Anakin and Asoka had the cruiser lower it's shields so they could land, only to have the group of Droid fighters recognize this, and immediately turn and crash themselves into the exposed innards of the cruiser.  The droids may be easily tricked when the Jedi do something that is beyong their programming capacity, but when they are presented by a military opportunity they respond.  I thought it added depth to the bad guys, which was nice.

And I agree with this 100% as well...  The whole Battledroids = Dumb thing is funny in a way, but they showed that the better the droid the more deadly they are as well.  Destroyers and SBD's aren't anything to trifle with...  The regular grunt droids may not be bright but work in swarms (similar to their creators, making an interesting connection), while a Destroyer or two can hold a couple Jedi at bay.  SBD's just looked like mean mofo's that Clones have tough times with.  I liked them a lot in this.  Jedi tear them apart but Clones, not so much.

Again, the animation was fine to me...  And I even have some experience with 3-D animation myself, and felt this was just the "look" they wanted.  They didn't want to go for realism, and I am happy they didn't actually.  Going for super detailed realism is aiming for making more movies without paying actors IMO.  This works for a TV show (which is what this ultimately is;  Just a TV show), and I found it highly entertaining...  Flaming Gay Hutt and all.
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Offline Theo Zissou

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #66 on: August 19, 2008, 12:01 AM »


Was I the only one who longed for Jabba to hit the big button (for old times sake) so we could see what's below door number one?



yup i was totally thinking he was going to hit the button. i flashed through one of the clone war books that came out around the time of the figure launch, and i thought there was a pic of a rancor in there. would of been a cool thing for obi to end up down there since the scene with him kind of looked like luke with the hood up. :)

Offline David

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #67 on: August 19, 2008, 11:41 AM »


Was I the only one who longed for Jabba to hit the big button (for old times sake) so we could see what's below door number one?



yup i was totally thinking he was going to hit the button. i flashed through one of the clone war books that came out around the time of the figure launch, and i thought there was a pic of a rancor in there. would of been a cool thing for obi to end up down there since the scene with him kind of looked like luke with the hood up. :)

That would have been very cool! :)
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Offline DSJ™

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #68 on: August 20, 2008, 10:11 AM »
Hey, wonder what everyone thought about the scene where Asoka was bragging to the troops and artooie had a chat with another droid, was that R2-KT?  It would be very Lucas to slip something like that in.  I hadn't seen anyone else mention that, didn't know if anyone else caught it.

I noticed the R2-KT when I watched it online last night, I thought that was a very nice tribute.  :)

Oh, did I say online:-X

Downloading the flick now.  ;D

Offline Jayson

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #69 on: August 20, 2008, 10:16 AM »
Yep, and there is some speculation out there that R2-KT might end up as Ahsoka's astromech. It seems to fit as she's getting her own Jedi Starfighter.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2008, 10:19 AM by Jayson »
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Offline JangoTat

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #70 on: August 20, 2008, 10:24 AM »
Hey, wonder what everyone thought about the scene where Asoka was bragging to the troops and artooie had a chat with another droid, was that R2-KT?  It would be very Lucas to slip something like that in.  I hadn't seen anyone else mention that, didn't know if anyone else caught it.

I noticed the R2-KT when I watched it online last night, I thought that was a very nice tribute.  :)

Oh, did I say online:-X

Downloading the flick now.  ;D


for a second there I thought it was a screener..but alas it is not. Quality is not good enough for me to download. Ill just wait till a screener dvd is available.
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Offline Darth Broem

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #71 on: August 20, 2008, 12:03 PM »
Well I finally saw it Monday morning with my son.  I can not say that I disliked it but did not really care for it either.  I think what kind of ruined it for me is that I saw too much of the movie from the 3-4 trailers and all the pre-video stuff.  It is definately a made for TV series.  I just did not care for seeing it in the theatre.  When you go to a movie you expect a bit more of story for your money.  It barely had one at all in my opinion.  I think it will be fine for TV though.  Of course Pixar just makes this thing look silly animation-wise but again it's really for TV and not the theatre. 

My son did not really like it either.  He just thought it was too noisy after awhile.  I have to agree with him.  It was kind of full of mind numbing action.  I like action but that's all it was with barely any substance and it kind of got dull.  Again it would be fine for viewing 30 mins on TV. 

I did like Ahsoka.  It would have been even duller without her in my opinion.  I actually liked Ziro.  I think the reason was because the "story" finally got away from the endless battles.   Then after him it seemed like the thing was finally going to get an ending soon afterward. 

Anyway, I guess it was a nice intro to the series.  I think it would have worked better as a tv-movie though.  But they got the big commercial and attention they were wanting and now it's on to October.


Offline Scott

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #72 on: August 20, 2008, 12:48 PM »
I liked it, my boys LOVED it, so much so that they have been playing with their CW toys non stop since we saw it.  So, I get the negative reviews, but are any of those (and any of those written here) done by a 4 and 6 year old?  The target audience is not us and I think that should be hammered home until the cows come home.  The Live Action series next year is our baby and I don't think we'll be seeing stupid nicknames or showhorned plot devices.

I am still uber pissed of the thought of Anakin having a Padawan, it is absolutely dumb, but she works OK and it will be interesting to see how they kill her off

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #73 on: August 20, 2008, 12:59 PM »
I've come to terms with the "Padawan" aspect to Anakin by the rationale that she's just there getting experience, as she mentions, and he's really not got a full-time Padawan like Obi-Wan has with Anakin, or Qui-Gon had with Obi-Wan, etc.  It's like how Obi-Wan mentions Yoda trained him at one point...  He was Yoda's Padawan at that point, but ultimately he wasn't there full-time...  Maybe just a thing he did for experience he needed.

Ahsoka maybe needed some field experience and Skywalker had been knighted, so they gave her to him...  And like Yoda mentioned it was a good test for he and Obi-Wan to watch Anakin on too, with his issues of attachment. 

That to me makes sense Scott, not sure if it's acceptable to you though.  Ultimately I don't view her as Ani's Padawan as much as she's like a Padawan rental.
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Offline Scott

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Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
« Reply #74 on: August 20, 2008, 02:35 PM »
While I can see that, IMO it is still dumb and didn't need to be there...especially since this will ultimately have more story and back story and adventure than any other piece of SW media at close to 50 hours...hey kids, when you watch ROTS, make sure you forget about Anakin's Padawan

One question EUers might be able to answer, whatever happened to Durge?