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Multimedia => TV-9D9 => Topic started by: Brian on July 17, 2008, 02:52 PM

Title: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Brian on July 17, 2008, 02:52 PM
Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/film/ap-review-clone-wars.html) has the first review up (from the AP) of the upcoming Clone Wars movie.  It seemed pretty positive overall, and mentioned a few times "returning to the fun of the Original Trilogy".  I hope that is true, and I'm looking forward to checking it out.
Title: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: jedi_master_sal on August 9, 2008, 02:05 PM
Moderators, PLEASE leave a redirect to this thread if you decide to move it. Let's give more people a chance to see this post if they want to. Thanks.


Okay let me first reiterate, if you don’t want any spoilers do NOT read any further. You’ve been warned.

I was lucky enough to get to see an advanced screening this morning due to a collector club/501st connection. (Scans of the program and ticket to follow-for proof).

Now let me say this first as an overall impression of the movie:

Excellent, fantastic, I was thoroughly entertained. This IS the new direction of Star Wars and I love it. And I’m confident that many of you will too.


Okay, now to break this down.

There are some things about the movie that will at first unsettle some of us long time fans. To start, will the logo of the “Clone Wars” pops onto the screen, what follows is darn near blasphemy. NO SCRAWL! On top of that no familiar SW theme. Instead we get a sort of disjointed funky version of it. That just doesn’t jive with what we’ve all come to expect from the opening of a SW movie.

Now on top of this, we also do NOT get a space scene to start with some dramatic panning. Instead....and take a breathe folks...we get a scene that is VERY similar to Starship Troopers. It’s as if a reporter is giving the news and there are flashes of characters. I didn’t see him, but my wife swears she saw Greivous for all of 2 seconds in that sequence. If so, then that is the ONLY time he is in the movie. He’s absolutely not in it anywhere else. No doubts he will be in the show. The exact same we can state for Plo Koon and Kit Fisto. For those of you who have seen the trailer with them in it, that’s it. That’s ALL you get of those two venerable Jedi Masters. 

Okay, so while I was taken aback by this style of beginning and exclaiming to myself “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” (and something I HOPE LFL changes before the general release of the movie, it’s over quickly. From there it jumps right into the Battle of Christophsis. There is a long 3 minute trailer out there. That covers the majority of this scene....or does it. Turns out it’s only the first part of that battle. There is MUCH more to come.

Let me say this, the action in this movie is FAR superior to any of the prequels and dare I say the OT as well. Now some of that is of course due to the constraints being lifted by using animation instead of live actors. But WOW, was it awesome. The battle just looks so good on the big screen. You get a much fuller feeling for the magnitude of the battle.

Also, we get closer to the clones and you start to actually feel for them a bit and their struggle to win the war. It’s during the lull in the battle that we meet Ahsoka Tano. She’s somewhat brash and very much impatient. Reminds you a lot of Anakin. So it was a good idea to create this character for Anakin to train. I’ll be following this interaction between them closely to see how it develops. I definitely think LFL got the “teenager” aspect down of Ahsoka. The bond she and Anakin make, start off awkwardly from a story point, but it’s supposed to. I enjoyed how their relationship progressed through the movie and it didn’t feel forced to me.

In fact nearly all of the relationships we see feel more real than the real life counterparts of the prequels strangely enough. Anakin and Obi-wan have a much deeper bond in this movie and aren’t bickering so much that it takes away from what we had heard was a great bond between them. Again, in this movie, the bond IS there and you start to actually care about these guys.

Let me turn to the clones for a moment. They were excellent and a character unto themselves, not to mention specific clone commanders. But since we are let’s go over them. Captain Rex is in the movie A LOT! And he’s a very good character. Cody has a much smaller role than Fox, but we do have a little interaction with him. Commander Rex on the other hand...practically nonexistent! If you’re buying the figures based on how they were seen in the movie, Rex is nearly a pass. Again no doubts he’ll be in the show. If not then Target got an exclusive of “blink and you miss him” kind of character. I’ll get to where he is in the movie shortly.

Since we talked about clones, let’s talk a minute about the Separatist forces. In this movie the battle droids account for much of the hokey humor and it WORKS! I enjoyed the banter between them. While ultimately we know that “really wouldn’t happen.” Take this movie at face value as a KIDS CARTOON MOVIE and you will enjoy it that much more. There are so many funny things the battle droids say that it’s hard to even focus on one and I think I’ll leave that for you folks to discover and enjoy for yourselves. Again, I think you’ll like them.

Okay so after the Battle of Christophsis with some small short scenes following, we find ourselves at the Battle of Teth (otherwise known as the B’Omarr Monk Monastery-NOT Jabba’s Palace). Anakin and Ahsoka are sent their to rescue Jabba’s son who’s been taken by “renegades” who we know all the time are really the Separatist. Asaaj is waiting for them there and another great battle ensues with the clones and Jedi making their way up the towering slender peak the monastery is atop of. Along the way Ahsoka challenges Anakin as to who will get to the top first. Through a series of events, Anakin and Ahsoka get away with Rota (for whom Ahsoka refers to as “Stinky,” but not after a short battle with Asaaj Ventress. In the meantime Obi-wan had gone to negotiate with Jabba. He gets a distress call from Anakin at the monastery so he takes off to help. While he goes to rescue Anakin, Dooku is waiting in the wings to talk with Jabba. He convinces Jabba that the Jedi have kidnapped Rota actually and plan to take over Hutt space.

Obi-wan arrives a little before Anakin and Ahsoka escape and in time to have a very cool battle with Asaaj, in which he calls her “darling.” Don’t read anything into it...it was just a comment and I thought it was appropriate for the banter.

With Anakin and Ahsoka on their way to Tatooine to deliver Rota, we get to a scene with Padme talking with Palpatine. She knows of Jabba’s “Uncle” Ziro (pronounced ZERO) the Hutt and how he may be able to help. THIS is where I got BIG disappointment. Not only does Ziro speak english-which we all know is “basic” in SW language, but instead of sounding like a powerful Hutt, he sounds (and this part is going to sound BAD, but please take it in the context it is written) like either he is a bit flamboyant gay or is an african american diva. Not at all like a Hut SHOULD sound. For one, Hutts to NOT speak basic even though they know it and know how to. They don’t speak it because they feel they are ABOVE speaking basic. LFL, NO excuses please about how this particular Hutt has been away from HuttSpace for so long or how he’s eccentric because he’s been on Coruscant. That’s just an excuse in my book to make it easier to understand him since he speaks english. But to the nature of his character SOUNDING like he does, I’m baffled. This is not to say there is anything wrong with being gay or being a diva, it’s just not at all my interpretation of what a Hutt Crimelord should be like. So take that for what it’s worth. I was disappointed Ziro wasn’t like Jabba. You may like the new take on a Hutt though, so that is up to you to decide.

Padme meets with Ziro and he throws her out. Before she leaves, she sees that the IG droid Ziro has in his employ sports a battle droid blaster and realizes something is amiss. She escapes the clutches of the IG droid and sneaks back to Ziro’s chamber to overhear a discussion between him and Dooku.

Turns out that Dooku conspired with Ziro to take Jabbas son and promised Ziro Jabbas territory in exchange for his help, along with the death of certain Jedi. Padme is about to escape when she is caught and imprisoned by Ziro. She does manage to get a message off to C-3PO for help. After a couple of intertwined scenes with Anakin/Ahsoka and Obi-wan’s story arcs, we find C-3PO has indeed come to Padme’s rescue and brought with him the Senate Clones. THIS is where we see Commander Fox, but he’s not names and only seen on the screen a VERY short time.

On Tatooine, Anakin has crashed landed. So he and Ahsoka start their trek over the Dune Sea (he even mentions it). Along the way they feel a presence. They split up. Anakin eventually faces Dooku, while Ahsoka faces 3 Magnadroids. They battle their way to Jabba’s palace to save Rota and clear the Jedi.

They make it there but Jabba decides to kill them anyway. Just before that happens a priority call comes in from Ziro’s palace. It’s Padme and she explains Ziro’s treachery and even has Ziro confessing it all. Jabba is outraged at Dooku and doesn’t kill the Jedi.

So the story ends.


No Armored Y-wings as I had hoped for.
Scant appearances by Jedi we though might have a larger role in the movie.


Big Battle scenes though.

One somewhat troubling scene is that of some bounty hunters heads on a platter being shown. Other than that and all of the battles, it’s a great kids movie. That being said, I still would not recommend this for kids under 10. Pushing that to MAYBE 8 depending on how mature a kid is.

On a scale from 1-5 stars with 5 the best, I’d give this a 4.5 stars. The animation is pretty good, though the walking of the characters could be improved. The opening sequence and my take on Ziro’s character were the only real shortcomings for me. Other than that as I mentioned near the beginning of this post, this IS the direction for SW to take. Texturing of the animation was stellar. We often get closeups of the clone armor for instance and we see the pits and divots in their armor. Oh new Camo scouts are in this and I REALLY dig their armor.

I REALLY hope Hasbro decides to give us realistic versions of these characters as well.

I do have to say that I’m nearly convinced to collect the animated line after seeing the movie. I think I’m going to buy battle packs and other types of multipacks though and avoid single carded figs since I open them anyway and can save money on the battle packs. Except I KNOW I’m getting an Ahsoka figure-with her being alien, I think I can integrate her into the collection and she’ll still somewhat appear to be in place with the realistic figures.


Okay, so please if you have ANY questions about the movie, fire away and I’ll answer them all as best I can. I didn’t cover everything about the movie and can’t remember it all, so I’m definitely still going to see it again on premiere night!

Scans of the ticket and program to follow!

-Sal
Title: Re: Clone Wars movie review-SPOILER LADDEN!
Post by: jedi_master_sal on August 9, 2008, 02:45 PM
As promised here are the scans:

Front of ticket:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23683004@N06/2747549072/

back of ticket:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23683004@N06/2747549066/

Program (activity book):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23683004@N06/2747549058/

Enjoy!
Title: Re: Clone Wars 3D
Post by: nheimbigner on August 9, 2008, 04:22 PM
read on the tv guide that anakin develops a crush on ahsoka that is involuntary... :-* ;) :) :D ;D 8) :o :)
Title: Re: Clone Wars
Post by: Phrubruh on August 11, 2008, 10:51 AM
The reviews are coming in about the Clone Wars. They ain't pretty.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37881 (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37881)

Maybe Lucas should have scheduled the movie for saturday morning tv instead.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie
Post by: BillCable on August 11, 2008, 10:59 AM
Those guys are nuts.  I thought the movie was very enjoyable.  I can't understand why Massawyrm hated Ahsoka so much.  I didn't like the nickname thing myself, but otherwise she was a great character.  I can understand why Harry hated Zero, but I had other friends who thought he was fantastic.  I think they're just hating on Star Wars because it's cool to hate on Star Wars these days.

The series is constricted by the fact that we know the eventual destinies of all the players.  After the film we went to lunch, and one discussion was on when and how Ahsoka bites it.  Because that pretty much has to happen.  But that doesn't make the tale unworthy of telling.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 11, 2008, 11:42 AM
I'll keep looking for a more recognized critic review. When does Ebert come out with his?

I still don't understand why anyone would give Anakin his own padawan except to give the Hanna Montana crowd something to look forward too. Maybe Ahsoka will have her own music video?
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Brian on August 11, 2008, 12:45 PM
Nice to see the reviews (at least from forum members, etc.) seem to be fairly positive so far.  Sure, there are some things people don't like - which is always expected with any movie - but as long as I'm entertained, I'm happy.  I'm curious how it will do at the box office.  There obviously isn't nearly the buzz as there was for all the live action movies.  Anyone have any predictions?  Will The Dark Knight finally fall from #1?  If so, will it be Clone Wars or Tropic Thunder that does it?  Hopefully it will do well.  Like others have said, its always tough reading Star Wars reviews, because even after ROTS, we're still in the time where some people think its cool to "hate Star Wars", which tends to get annoying - as far as disliking it just to say that you do.
Title: Re: Clone Wars
Post by: jedi_master_sal on August 11, 2008, 01:25 PM
The reviews are coming in about the Clone Wars. They ain't pretty.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37881 (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37881)

Maybe Lucas should have scheduled the movie for saturday morning tv instead.

Go a see the movie for yourself. Don't listen to THAT twit!

First and foremost, while we already know what ultimately happens to the main characters, this movie should be viewed for entertainment purposes. Plain and simple I was entertained. My nitpicking aside, it was a FUN movie to watch. I definitely think it will strike a chord more with kids than crotchedy old farts like "Massawyrm."

Release yourselves from the bond of sentimentality and nostalgia and look at this movie as something fresh and new. So this movie fills in the holes bewteen Eps II and III. And that is a bad thing? Honestly, I felt that the relationship between Obi-wan and Anakin wasn't fully developed in ROTS. This movie and soon to be show will help fill that. Once again picture yourselves as that 7-9 year old kid who first watched the OT or Saturday morning cartoons for that matter.

I applaud LFL for going this direction.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 11, 2008, 01:34 PM
Will The Dark Knight finally fall from #1?  If so, will it be Clone Wars or Tropic Thunder that does it?  Hopefully it will do well. 

Well, TDK has been doing extreemly well in the box office. It made $26million this weekend in it's forth week of release. Pineapple Express did $22million this weekend. I'm thinking that TCW will take the number one spot from Batman. I can see it making at least $40million this weekend because of the lack of new kid movies right now. Kids seem pretty jazzed about it right now.  I don't see TCW making blockbuster status of $200million though.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 11, 2008, 02:26 PM
Anakin's Padawan isn't exactly (at least IMO) "his" Padawan...  I'm thinking he's more just one teacher in a line of teachers she will probably have.  Kind of like Yoda taught Obi-Wan as did Qui-Gon, and perhaps some other Jedi at various points of his life.  Different experiences and such.

Anyway, the deal with Ahsoka, and this is all spoilerish, is that Obi-Wan and Yoda seemingly (or it's implied anyway) thought Anakin's biggest problem is dealing with "letting go" and so they thought giving him someone to care over would be a good test for his abilities to first nurture and take care of a person, but then to also be able to break the bond and let them go on their own.  Which in that context it makes sense, right?  And it also plays into Ahsoka's possible future demise adding to Anakin's inability to deal with loss, attachment, love, etc.

Honestly I haven't read the other reviews lately, but I think there will be a crowd who loves this, and I think there will be a smaller crowd who hate it.  I think the crowd who hates it is the same crowd that despises the prequals or at least Episode 1 and 2.  This is, to me, superior to both those films I believe, but I'm not sure it's E3 level of quality.  It was great, I enjoyed it immensely, it's more of "pure fun" than that big epic story, and if you read my review on the front page you get more my impressions.

I avoided most of the Rotta the Hutt plot line though just to save something for fans to enjoy.

To me though, a local buddy mentioned that Jabba's uncle is a Truman Capote nod, and you know what?  That's a pretty good thought.  Not one I would've considered actually.  If you can get past the voice, you'll enjoy the plot twist he throws in a bit more.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: speedermike on August 11, 2008, 03:54 PM
No, it won't do 100mil, but it would make me laugh real hard if it takes the #1 spot from TDK-which is a very great movie--I'm just a true blle SW fan!
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: BillCable on August 11, 2008, 05:03 PM
Interesting... the two reviews from AICN were pulled.  I guess somebody at LFL was pissed.  I wonder if JD will get a C&D for Jesse's.   ;D
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 12, 2008, 02:33 AM
*shrugs*

Tough ****... :)

And I actually LIKED it so they better not try to pull mine!  If anything I deserve some free **** mailed to me, hear that Lucasfilm?

I could use a prop model from the films...  Nothing major, just an X-Wing or something would be fine.
Title: Re: Clone Wars 3D
Post by: Rune Haako on August 14, 2008, 11:22 PM
read on the tv guide that anakin develops a crush on ahsoka that is involuntary... :-* ;) :) :D ;D 8) :o :)


Weird, isn't Ahsoka like 11?
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Reid on August 15, 2008, 02:40 AM
Just came back from the midnight showing. Overall, I thought it was very flawed, and some things were just flat out stupid, but I enjoyed it for the most part. It was fun, and a lot more enjoyable than AOTC. My thoughts below... (Spoilers)










What I Liked
-I enjoyed the ground battles, particularly the opening one. Really gave a nice sense of scale to the whole conflict. The vertical battle on the B'omarr castle was stunning, to say the least. Pretty much all the "war" elements were well done.

-The little excursions to Tatooine were nice to see. I want an animated Jawa! Would've liked to see a bit more of Jabba's Palace other than the audience chamber.

-The banter between the Jedi and Rex was well done, they really gave him some nice personality. Rex was probably one of my favorite new characters from the film.

-I liked seeing a hyperspace jump. Loved the hyperspace jump. Considering the prequels were devoid of it, it was a nice way to hearken back to the OT.

-Liked seeing some non-clone Republic personnel, the gunship mechanic guys, the officers, they were all very cool. Hopefully we'll see some figures, especially the lead admiral guy.

What I Didn't Like
-WAY too much "cutesy" stuff. Anakin and Ahsoka's nicknames, the banter between them, it got quite tiresome. Ahsoka as a character really annoyed me. They tried way too hard to make her a stereotype rebellious teen, I think.

-Dialogue. It was below AOTC level. I'm dead serious. The worst offenders were the droids, but the Jedi had plenty of cringe worthy lines. Even the non-cutesy lines sounded generally just awkward.

-Lack of Jedi. It seemed the film focused on Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka, and acted like the other Jedi didn't exist. Annoyed me a bit.

-No Grievous. Wanted to see Grievous.

And finally, the number one thing I disliked most about the CW film...

-Ziro The Hutt. Jeezus this guy was just terrible. Whos idea was it to give a Hutt a nasally, exaggerated southern accent, ala Truman Capote? This guy was easily the Jar-Jar of the film. I want a figure!

Overall, despite its flaws, I'd have to give it a solid 8 out of 10. Most of the time it was pretty fun, and the pacing was excellent. Not one scene bored me. Might see it again.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: David on August 15, 2008, 06:07 AM
I just got back. And all I can say is...ouch. :-\


Okay, so it wasn't terrible, but it definitely had outstanding lame moments (and some excellent ones too!).


Good stuff:

The Battle Droids! They were the best part of the whole movie. "So...are we gonna tell him they got away or what?" They were just hysterical!

The Battle Scenes. A lot more Clone Wars battle action is possible in animation, so it was very cool to watch heads being blown off, Jedi running around atop Tri-Droids, STAPs being cut down in mid-air, etc. Definitely some neat stuff that's not possible in the live-action Star Wars universe.

The CIS General Guy/Negotiations with Obi-Wan. This was just a very enjoyable scene, I really liked the alien general and hope to see him return in the TV show.

Dooku and Ventress. Very, very sinister villains, I loved watching them plot. Ventress especially was very good in this movie.

Padme. Not bad! I enjoyed her role, her character was definitely at her best in this movie, by far. Maybe just because they showed her butt so much. ::)

Rotta. Okay, he's cute, and he grew on me. I laughed out loud during the lightsaber duel when Dooku said, "Surrender the Huttlet or die!" Probably one of the best Star Wars lines ever!


Okay, the praise is over. The Bad Stuff:

Ziro the Hutt aka 'Jabba's Gay Uncle.' For those of you who have heard about how much this character sucks, I can now say with absolute certainty...yeah, he sucks. He's just really, really bad. If it weren't for the awesome plot line he was involved in with Padme, Dooku, Rotta, etc. I don't know how I'd have been able to stand him.

The Soda Can Droids. The droids that were guarding the shield generator looked really, really stupid.

Obi-Wan's Big Ugly (Now Animated) Forehead Mole. Damn, that was bugging me!

Yoda. Voice Yoda's sounded it awful it did because so mixed up was it that very retarded it sounded. In other words, Yoda's sentences just really didn't come out right at all, so that got kind of annoying after a while.

Plo Koon & Kit Fisto: Was that seriously it? Oh man! When I saw them show up in the trailer I was really looking forward to seeing what kind of roles they would have. Turned out what we saw in the trailer was pretty much it. So that was a little disappointing.

General Grievous: Ditto. He pretty much had those two seconds at the beginning and that was it.

Jar Jar. Ditto. (NOT! :D)


And the Odd Stuff:

The News Report-esque Introduction. It wasn't bad or anything, it just...well, it wasn't the giant paragraphs floating in space so it didn't have the proper Star Wars intro feeling to it.

Ahsoka, Ahsoka, Ahsoka. I still don't quite know what to make of her. I knew from the beginning that she would be kiddie and potentially annoying, but she was better than I thought she would be. She had awesome moments (race up the mountain, Magna Guard battle, and a few entertaining lines) and some not so stellar moments (several really, really terrible lines). I'm just gonna have to see it again and decide whether I like her or not. She was hot though, I'll give her that. :)


Well it's getting a little late and I'm starting to lose the ability to form coherent thoughts...so that's all for now. I'm just gonna wrap this review up by giving the movie a 7 out of 10. This could change when I see it again though, for better or worse...

Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 15, 2008, 03:26 PM
Here is the L.A. Times review on it. Interesting thing is the senior critic staff didn't want to review it so they handed it off to a frequent contributor.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/reviews/la-et-starwars15-2008aug15,0,2374460.story (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/reviews/la-et-starwars15-2008aug15,0,2374460.story)

According to AICN, there was suppost to be an embargo on reviews until today. That is why the review was pulled. Most of the time when movie companies put an embargo on reviews or won't let critics review the movie before its release, it's a telling sign that this movie should have went directly to DVD as quickly as possible.

Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 15, 2008, 03:31 PM
Roger Ebert gives the movie a star and half.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/REVIEWS/808140301/-1/PEOPLE (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/REVIEWS/808140301/-1/PEOPLE)
Title: Re: Clone Wars 3D
Post by: nheimbigner on August 15, 2008, 07:46 PM
read on the tv guide that anakin develops a crush on ahsoka that is involuntary... :-* ;) :) :D ;D 8) :o :)


Weird, isn't Ahsoka like 11?

14
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Brian on August 15, 2008, 09:12 PM
Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/film/080815-clone-wars-review.html) has a bit more favorable review up.  I had a chance to catch this this afternoon, and I have to say I enjoyed it overall.  It isn't like the live action movies, of course, but I think Ebert is maybe a little bit hard on the movie overall.  Sure, it has its silly moments to be sure (and the nickname stuff that's been discussed does get a little old), but I thought it was a fun movie overall.  Geared a little more towards the kiddos, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  As I was watching it, I was thinking that I would love this as a kid, and plan to take our nephews in a couple of weeks here.  I enjoyed it as an adult too, for what it was, and really look forward to the weekly series.  I think the chance to see some focus on the other Jedi (like Plo Koon :P), and the clonetroopers will be neat to see.

One thing that I really liked about this movie is that it didn't seem to have any lulls or downtime, it was pretty much nonstop action - which was kind of cool.  I think that it will have its critics, just like the prequels, but there's a lot of good here too.  Like I've said before though, I'm a little less critical of movies.  I'm not looking for absolute realism and "gritty-ness" from a movie like this, I just go to a movie like this to entertained for a couple hours - and Clone Wars did that.  It definitely has me looking forward to the animated series, which I think will look great on television.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: speedermike on August 15, 2008, 09:31 PM
The big issue, and I pointed this out a while ago, is that this was made for TV and it looks cheap on the big screen.  If this had been the first 2 episodes viewd on TV, reviews would be very positive.  But when compared to the Holy Trilogy, The Prequels, current animation like The Incredibles and Wall-E, it's just not up there.  This was a huge mistake to put this in the theaters...

that being said...

I actually really liked it.  I thought it was quick, funny, well designed and light weight in the best way.  Loved Obi-Wan's negotiation, thought Ziro was very funny just because it was so odd (and I like how he talked Huttese with Jabba) the action was well done, and...I actually liked Anikin in this movie better then either prequel.  He seemed to be the hero I always wanted him to be, without the whining.

So, as a "movie" this is a big bust, and Lucasfilm is gonna have to get some spin going quick, as the start off for the TV show?  Bring it on!

Man, can someone get me a job working for Lucasfilm?  I really want to help them to stop falling flat like this!
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: evenflow on August 15, 2008, 09:35 PM
I really liked it, ALOT. I thought it was much better than Indiana Jones. My only complaint was the terrible Ziro The Hutt. I don't know what they were thinking ut i woul dhave much preferred Gardulla or Zorba the Hutt than that mess.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: speedermike on August 15, 2008, 09:50 PM
Am I the only one who like Ziro?   (I guess living and working in the NY art wourd for years, I've known my share of queens...and usually they're all just show and very sweet at heart...)

Anyway...the "Bounty Hunters have returned" gag was totally true to the SW spirit and funnier than anything in all three prequels.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 15, 2008, 10:56 PM
I liked Ziro too (check out my review for some more details) actually.  The galaxy's a big place, and I thought that an "eccentric" Hutt was a neat idea...  He's not just a carbon copy of Jabba, which is what EU sort of has delivered to us as far as Hutts go, but instead he's a flamboyant, decadent (similar, but moreso than Jabba), and evil prick...  I liked that whole aspect.

I agree, this will be better on TV than film, at least to me, but if I were going with a 1 to 10 scale, I'd give it a solid 8 I think.  Really the only thing that bothered me at all was the immediate "familiarity" Ahsoka gave Anakin with the nicknames.  Beyond that I thought the whole thing was very fast-paced, very exciting, very war-centric, and even had a nice mini-plot thing smashed into that fit perfectly with the "war".

Truman Capote is a lot of what I hear mentioned in regards to Ziro, and I agree.  That's a spot-on analysis, and I think it's 100% intentional by the creators as well.  Capote existed, so why couldn't a Hutt be similarly styled? 

I think Koon and Fisto will show up in some of the TV episodes, as will more familiar faces.  I dig the idea of a new adventure every couple episodes, which the pacing of the movie gave me that impression as to how the TV series will work...  Maybe a couple nights will be spent diving into and out of one story arc, only to lead into another one to take up a couple of nights...  I dig it.

I like SW in general but the military aspect is huge to me, and that was brought out very well in this cartoon.  I think that rocks.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: JesseVader08 on August 16, 2008, 12:55 AM
I really enjoyed it!  I think the interaction between characters was done BETTER than a lot of the writing from the prequels.  It was just a lot of fun, full of action with some humour thrown in. 

Roger Ebert gives the movie a star and half.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/REVIEWS/808140301/-1/PEOPLE (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/REVIEWS/808140301/-1/PEOPLE)

As soon as I heard Ebert gave it a low rating, I figured it should be pretty good.  ;)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Theo Zissou on August 16, 2008, 01:55 AM
I thought it was good not great. i didn't like The words Stinky, Snips, Skyguy, and Artoo'ie. it didn't ruin it for me but it was just eh :/ Ziro really didn't bug me that much. i agree "an "eccentric" Hutt was a neat idea"

Actually one of my favorite things was the battle droids and the lines they had. lol. like the one that asked ventress about telling the count she failed, and she just flings him off the cliff.

I thought the style of everything was pretty cool. some of the little additions like the epoies outside jabbas palace.

The story was ok, but i've read alot better clone war stories in the comics. I liked what i saw in the preview of the TV series so i think once it hits tv we might start seeing some really cool stuff. Alot of it does feel kid friendly and that's ok. comparing it to the story from the cartoon network series though i think they did a better job on that.

As far as asoka goes i hope she just leaves the order and goes into hiding or something. I get the feeling though from the way they talk about anakin learning how to let things go that she ends up dead toward the end of the tv show.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Muftak on August 16, 2008, 09:31 AM
Went to see this with my wife yesterday afternoon.

First off, opening day 5:00 PM, playing in one theater, and that theater isn't half full. Guess this isn't quite the spectacle of years gone by, huh?

I had warned my wife for months about how worried I was that I wouldn't be able to get into the "new stuff," and as she looked around the theater she asked if it would be okay to sneak into another movie if this was too bad. I gave her the look.

It started with the "A Long Time Ago..." bit, and a young kid sitting behind us just squealed "OH YEAH!!" with such pure delight, and I remembered being just like that kid, not even ten years ago when TPM came out. He probably hadn't seen a Star Wars movie in the theater yet, was probably a baby when AOTC came out, and too little for ROTS's PG-13. So this movie, playing in theaters, is for them. I got it at that instant.

The movie took over and I sat in awe. The art, while not Pixar lush, definitely had its own beauty. I was afraid the characters would look too stiff, but it wasn't bad...maybe because I still love the figures, and more than anything this looked like action figures acting out a Star Wars movie. The only one I didn't follow was Yoda...he looked really weird and jarring to me.

The storyline was pretty good. I had complained to my wife when originally hearing about the Hutt and Tatooine elements that I feared they would do it all wrong, and forget Anakin had ever been a Hutt's slave...but they nailed it to my great glee. Having not heard about Ziro, it was kind of shocking to discern that he was being played gay. And not gay in a flat, one-dimensional way. Sort of menacingly gay. A gay Star Wars character..? In what is supposed to be a kid's movie? Wow.

Ahsoka was a little heavy-handed, but it was the character whose eyes we were supposed to be witnessing this through, so that is understandable. I didn't have a hard time with the nicknames everyone else seems to. Stinky was a well done character in his own right, and seeing his reunion with Jabba was very cute.

Loved the battle droid jokes and pratfalls. Loved that droidekas are still feared. Couldn't get enough of the Jawas, constantly appearing whenever a piece of equipment was left alone. Just great great fun Star Wars stuff.

In the end, my wife and I both enjoyed it, and she even said she is interested in the TV show now. This went a long way towards renewing my faith in the future of Star Wars. The Lucas era is over, bring on the guys who actually like this stuff!
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Darth_Anton on August 16, 2008, 10:43 AM
About 30 of us saw this last night. 4 left early, they couldn't take it. For the party overall, it was mixed, some loathed it, other thought it was "fun."

I myself liked the broad strokes, but felt hat it was too childish. It's one thing to dumb down to children, it's another to go overboard, which this collection of episodes does. The battle sequences were well done and fun, the stuff with rex was actually pretty exciting. I couldn't take Ziro, though. If I was trying to forgive the fact the show stars a Bratz, Ziro simply ruined all efforts to get past the fact that there is so little in this movie designed for adults to enjoy. That's the difference between a good kids film and a bad kids film. The good ones make them smart enough that the parents don't roll their eyes and cringe. That's why all of Pixars movies do so well.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Theo Zissou on August 16, 2008, 03:02 PM
While i like the action and battle scenes for the style and look of it. there isn't much of a feeling of danger. I've been rewatching the cartoon network volume 1 this morning and this current series could of used a few touches of the first clonewars animation. One is the dialogue is minimal and works very well. second they do have a feeling of danger with durge and ventress and both characters push obi and anakin to a point of defeat before being defeated themselfs. The movie could of used another darkside disciple that could of been killed. i know in the comics dooku had ventress, skorr, vos for awhile, and sora bulq.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: JangoTat on August 16, 2008, 03:16 PM
While i like the action and battle scenes for the style and look of it. there isn't much of a feeling of danger. I've been rewatching the cartoon network volume 1 this morning and this current series could of used a few touches of the first clonewars animation. One is the dialogue is minimal and works very well. second they do have a feeling of danger with durge and ventress and both characters push obi and anakin to a point of defeat before being defeated themselfs. The movie could of used another darkside disciple that could of been killed. i know in the comics dooku had ventress, skorr, vos for awhile, and sora bulq.


Sadly that sense of danger will never strike us though because we all know how the story ends ::) However for ashoka that sense of danger can still be there as with Rex(did he just replace alpha arc?). The movie IMO was great, from beginning to end I was entertained and heck I want more. What we need now is more new jedi characters so that sense of danger and suspense as you were tlaking about can still be there. cause as it is right now the only danger that can happen to sky guy is getting his robo claw cut off every now and then.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 16, 2008, 03:59 PM
Does anyone know if this "movie" will be shown on tv as the first episode of the series? If so, I'll watch it then or at least rent it on netflix.

Because of the industry I'm in, one thing I can't stand is poor CG work. This movie looks like about the same quality as a Barbie DVD. The handdrawn version looked much better than this.  I can't see spending $8+ to see it in the theaters when there is far superior CG work out there to support such as Wall*E and Kung-Fu Panda. I just wouldn't enjoy it.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 16, 2008, 04:06 PM

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

Right because Robert Ebert doesn't like Star Wars movies. He is actually very supportive of them. Looking up his reviews at www.rogerebert.com:

Star Wars got 4 stars
Empire Strikes Back got 4 stars
Return of the Jedi got 4 stars
Phantom Menace got 3 1/2 stars
Attack of the Clones got 2 stars
Revenge of the Sith got 3 1/2 stars
The Clone Wars got 1 1/2 stars

I guess that means you don't like Star Wars movies because obvisely Roger Ebert does.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: iFett on August 16, 2008, 05:06 PM
I want my money back.  This thing should have never made it to theatres.  The only part I enjoyed was watching the AT-TE climb vertically which is pretty sad.   :-\

I actually felt like walking out of the theatre a few times because it got boring at points and it felt like watching a Saturday morning cartoon - which is what it should have been to begin with.  Too bad the Sail Barge didn't get more screen time, but I'm sure it'll be back in future episodes.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Theo Zissou on August 16, 2008, 06:52 PM

Sadly that sense of danger will never strike us though because we all know how the story ends ::) However for ashoka that sense of danger can still be there as with Rex(did he just replace alpha arc?). The movie IMO was great, from beginning to end I was entertained and heck I want more. What we need now is more new jedi characters so that sense of danger and suspense as you were tlaking about can still be there. cause as it is right now the only danger that can happen to sky guy is getting his robo claw cut off every now and then.

Yep exactly we need more new villians and jedi so we can worry about them and wonder if they make it or not. Yeah rex could be alpha, maybe they could come up with a story to explain how he went from alpha to rex. maybe in the comic series. :)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: David on August 16, 2008, 07:26 PM
Stinky was a well done character in his own right, and seeing his reunion with Jabba was very cute.

This movie made me feel very sorry for the way Jabba went out in RotJ, because you're actually rooting for him in this movie. :'(
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 16, 2008, 11:09 PM
I thought people might pick up on the "big screen, little screen" issues.  This was a film that clearly wasn't made to be a film originally, and instead was meant for TV.  I got that feeling too but it didn't really jar me on liking it.  I liked it a lot.

The only real issue I had was some of the dialogue...  I really liked this overall and I'm shocked how many hated it.

The CG in this isn't CGI...  The animation is to have a puppet-like look to it, so it's dumbed down a bit I think.  I didn't go into this looking for a Pixar film, and if you did I think you went into it already expecting way too much.

I mean, half of Jabba's goons were identical...  Really it wasn't a good idea to go into this hoping you got Toy Story quality.  Just wasn't going to happen because that's not what they were going for and we really knew that going into it.

I felt the action was outstanding...  They included all the goodies a SW film needs with the warrin', the space battles, the escapes, lightsaber fights, ground combat on a massive scale, etc.  They threw in great characters we know and I'm hopeful we'll see Durge & Co. from the established EU then throughout the series.

Really I'm shocked this many fans were upset.  To me this was a great break from the other films.  I thought there was a distinct "adult" content effort too with the Clone getting his bucket shot off, the one shot through the gut, some pushing of language (nothing worse than the OT or PT, but still it was nice to hear), and a character that I too felt was very gay.  Call it a Truman Capote reference or whatever, but I too got the gay vibe from Ziro and I really enjoyed him as a character...  He was evil and flamboyant, and just seemed like Jabba's sort of polar opposite.

I'm actually looking forward to watching it again but can't find a good time to go.

Oh, and someone brought up Anakin being owned by a Hutt, and that's great.  I'd forgotten about that, and that really covered Anakin's hatred of them.  I 100% blanked on that, but now I get why he's so xenophobic towards them and lumps them all together.  That's a fantastic point and I dig that even more now.

I thought really this was clearly meant for the small screen first, but as a big screen jaunt out for a day I enjoyed it a lot.

Oh and to Jesse's defense, I think he maybe meant Ebert's reviews as a whole.  He does support SW though, but I usually don't agree with him.  Hell, a 2 star for AOTC but 3.5 for TPM?  Is he on crack?
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jayson on August 17, 2008, 08:48 AM
I saw it yesterday and I thought it was very fun and it'll be perfect for TV. It's definitely geared for the pre-teens but I like those types of cartoons like "Avatar" on Nickelodeon and Ben 10 on Cartoon Network, so I thoroughly enjoyed it as did most of the kids below 10yrs in the audience.

The lightsaber duels and space battles were fantastic, some even look as if they could be inserted in the Prequels and you wouldn't know the difference. Obi-Wan and Dooku I thought made the movie, especially Dooku, he has some great dialogue during the Anakin duel. Yoda was kind of a disappointment as they really butcher his speech affectation in the prequels and that continues here moreso.

The soundtrack was okay, definitely as departure but it worked and I assume we'll be hearing a lot of these new themes in the series.

As for the nicknames and such, they were cringe-inducing at first, but I didn't really notice after a while. And as for Ziro the Gay Hutt. He/she/it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. They could have made it Jabba's sister and it might have worked better.

I'll be seeing it a couple more times before it leave theatre - it's fun, popcorn entertainment.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 17, 2008, 12:33 PM
I have a feeling that Lucasfilm shot themselves in the foot over this one. By releasing it to the theaters, people expect a certain level of quality over regular tv shows. Since Lucasfilm when with simple puppet-like designs, it shows they went cheap. (like Transformers Animated) By getting such negative press about this movie, it will definately taint the show. Lucasfilm should have just released it to tv and released the toys then.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: JediShawn on August 17, 2008, 05:59 PM
If you think this show looks "cheap" then I don't think anything would please you.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Reid on August 17, 2008, 08:00 PM
Hell, a 2 star for AOTC but 3.5 for TPM?  Is he on crack?

I guess I am too, as IMO TPM is far superior to AOTC.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: JangoTat on August 17, 2008, 11:05 PM
Hell, a 2 star for AOTC but 3.5 for TPM?  Is he on crack?

I guess I am too, as IMO TPM is far superior to AOTC.


Same here, as much as a I hated the kid that played Ani I still find it  better then AOTC. I wouldnt say its far superior but it is better by just a little bit :P
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Matt_Fury on August 17, 2008, 11:51 PM
I've been working half-days (12 hour shifts), but did manage to catch this on Friday.  Overall I think i t was good, although I thought Ahsoka was a bit annoying with the nicknames...I also don't think a padawan would be so irreverent to a Jedi Knight and Jedi Masters.

Still...I thought it was pretty good.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 18, 2008, 10:27 AM
If you think this show looks "cheap" then I don't think anything would please you.

Well, I would like Obiwan's hair to actually move in the breeze. CG has been able to do that since Monsters Inc. in 2001. Instead he has helmet-hair. Even Space Chimps had more advanced CG then this.

Sorry, but I don't believe in supporting something that is poorly done just because it has the Star Wars name on it. Lucasfilm should be set to a much higher standard than this. This is a brand that means quality and we have been just served a turd that isn't even a quality turd. Well, on the bright side maybe people will forget Jar Jar. Probably not.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 18, 2008, 10:31 AM
The Clone Wars comes in third with only $15,505,000. Hell, Batman makes more money than that in day. Here is a list of review quotes.



"It's difficult to say whether the dialogue or the characters are more wooden." - Charlotte Observer

"Has it come to this? Has the magical impact of George Lucas' original vision of "Star Wars" been reduced to the level of Saturday morning animation?" - Chicago Sun Times/Roger Ebert

"An enjoyable escapade and a great introduction to the forthcoming series - just not the seventh Star Wars film fans were hoping for." - Empire

"George Lucas is turning into the enemy of fun." - Entertainment Weekly

"In the absence of any extensive innovation, the video game-ready results play more like a feature-length promo for the imminent TV series of the same name than a stand-alone event." - Hollywood Reporter

"Despite some absolutely gorgeous animation and adjusting expectations for what Clone Wars is meant to be, the Force is not strong with this one." - Los Angeles Times

"The Clone Wars is minor to the point of irrelevance, nothing more than a stylized direct-to-DVD shrug projected onto a big screen while Lucas launches two more TV series filling in prequel blanks better left empty." - LA Weekly

"Dear George Lucas: Stop ruining 'Star Wars'!" - New York Daily News

"Expectations were set so low by George Lucas’s lousy trilogy of “Star Wars” prequels that the latest from the Lucasfilm factory comes as something of a surprise: it isn’t the most painful movie of the year!" - New York Times

"... It's more of a problem when a film feels like a videogame, which implies a story that's more fun to play through than watch. Unfortunately, there's no interactive option for Star Wars: The Clone Wars" - The Onion

"The best that can be said about the movie is that it's harmless and mostly charmless." - Philadelphia Inquirer

"The animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" movie is out today, and Lucas seems to be more in touch with his inner Ewok than ever. The movie's tone will probably send original-trilogy loyalists over the edge, the final shove that sends their Hoth Ice Planet action play sets into exile on eBay." San Francisco Chronicle

"The movie gets more cluttered and confused as it moves along, though it's dotted with so many generic battle scenes and paint-by-numbers light-saber combat sequences that you can see how it's at least attempting to mimic the illusion of excitement." - Salon

"The story lacks narrative tension. The dialogue is stilted and overblown, a problem also in some of the live-action incarnations. That, combined with visuals that consistently lack punch, leaves little to engage us." - USA Today

"... there's little doubt this stuff will look more at home on the tube than it does on the bigscreen, since one thing is for sure: This isn't the "Star Wars" we've always known and at least sometimes loved." - Variety

"Clone Wars will appeal only to the most tolerant, galactically minded children and their parents." - Wall Street Journal

"Unfolds with all the entertainment value of watching somebody else play a video game." - Washington Post
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jayson on August 18, 2008, 10:41 AM
If you think this show looks "cheap" then I don't think anything would please you.

Well, I would like Obiwan's hair to actually move in the breeze. CG has been able to do that since Monsters Inc. Instead he has helmet-hair. Even Space Chimps had more advanced CG then this.

Both of those movies were developed as cinematic features, first and foremost. The Clone Wars movie wasn't. Do you think Monster Inc. or Space Chimps would maintain those production values as a weekly show? Doubtful.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 18, 2008, 11:26 AM
The sad thing is I've seen weekly CG shows that show higher quality than this. Besides, this is a show that is shown as a feature length movie. Therefore, it can be compared to lower quality CG movies. Lucasfilm should have included this as a free DVD with a ship or something. Simularly to the way we get a GI Joe movie with a few figures or a DVD with a Barbie.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: jedipurge on August 18, 2008, 12:27 PM

"Despite some absolutely gorgeous animation and adjusting expectations for what Clone Wars is meant to be, the Force is not strong with this one." - Los Angeles Times

"Clone Wars will appeal only to the most tolerant, galactically minded children and their parents." - Wall Street Journal


Man my newspaper gave it a bad review that sucks, I work at the Times.

I think WSJ hit it on the head. 

Us, the OT fans mainly, have to see this as the 10 and under that we were when the OT came out NOT as the 30+ that we are now.  It's not really geared towards us, I saw it on Sat. w/my 8 year old daughter.  I think before I became a dad I probably wouldn't have liked it as much, but now that I am I can totally see what Lucas was going for with this movie, and it kinda sucks that some won't get it.  This movie is directed at a new generation of fans and with all the "options" that kids have entertainment and what not I see nothing wrong with trying to get their attention/$.  If Lucas can get ahold of that 10 year old and turn over to the Lucas side of the Force it just means that the "story" as it is will continue.  If you only look at the 40 year old that saw it 30 years ago eventually the line will only go so far.




Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Theo Zissou on August 18, 2008, 12:31 PM
while the animation may not be on the level of pixar films. It has a pretty cool look to it. I like the style of it. If i had to pick between the 2 though i like the samurai jack style of the micro series more. :)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: iFett on August 18, 2008, 01:04 PM
Us, the OT fans mainly, have to see this as the 10 and under that we were when the OT came out NOT as the 30+ that we are now.  It's not really geared towards us

I understand that, but this should have never made it to theatres.  Entertaining or not, the "movie" was horrible - and I'm a fan of shows like Ben10 which is aimed towards kiddies.  Yes I'm 30 and still enjoy the occassional toon here and there.  Hell, if this thing made it to the big screen then why not the Secret of the Omitrix?  That was a masterpiece compared to this piece of garbage.  I'm okay with the animation but I get more life out of a Jimmy Neutron episode.

**Note - I'm knocking this for actually being a theatrical "movie".  I would have been just fine had they released it on tv as was originally planned.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jayson on August 18, 2008, 01:13 PM
Anyone else think that Ahsoka will eventually meet her end by sacrificing herself to save Anakin's life coupled with Yoda's line about Anakin's difficulty in letting go of the Padawan?

They sure seemed to emphasize that fact with Ahsoka's frequent life saving lines like "always there to save your life".
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 18, 2008, 02:10 PM
It's possible...  I really think they're building her up as something that adds to his ultimate demise to Vader.

On the animation point with Obi's hair...  If I'm not mistaken, the characters are to be puppet-like in their styling, so they're not really to "move with the wind" and things.  That's where the references to the old Thunderbirds show have come in when the movie was compared to various other shows.  IE: it's intentional, not just poor quality. 

I believe the stylized details were brought up in some of the videos about CW on SW.com, maybe elsewhere too.  I have a hard time believing LFL's CG work was just crappy, considering their CG work is never crappy in anything else it's in.  And yes, that includes the prequals. ;)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Keonobi on August 18, 2008, 02:12 PM
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.


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?

Also, wasn't Pixar originally a computer/program developed by LucasArts/LucasFilm/THX/SkywalkerSound (or whatever Lucas company)?
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jayson on August 18, 2008, 02:19 PM
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.

I dug that part as well, and I was surprised that they showed "human" hangar crew officers getting killed, usually they reserve that for helmeted/alien characters. Maybe LFL sees them differently as they are clones.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Brian on August 18, 2008, 03:52 PM
It's possible...  I really think they're building her up as something that adds to his ultimate demise to Vader.

On the animation point with Obi's hair...  If I'm not mistaken, the characters are to be puppet-like in their styling, so they're not really to "move with the wind" and things.  That's where the references to the old Thunderbirds show have come in when the movie was compared to various other shows.  IE: it's intentional, not just poor quality. 

I believe the stylized details were brought up in some of the videos about CW on SW.com, maybe elsewhere too.  I have a hard time believing LFL's CG work was just crappy, considering their CG work is never crappy in anything else it's in.  And yes, that includes the prequals. ;)

That's a good point Jesse.  I've seen a number of comments in reviews about the animation not being too great (with the characters in particular), and I guess it didn't bother me because that's what I expected as well.  They've mentioned numerous times that its inspired by Thunderbirds and again has the "old timey" feel to it, like Lucas likes to tie into his properties (Flash Gordon, Saturday serials, etc.)

I'm kind of surprised at how poorly it did at the box office.  Granted, they probably weren't expecting anything huge (or needed it), but I guess I still expected "Star Wars" to pull in about double what it did.  I realize its not live action, and that makes a big difference, but is the general public just tired of Star Wars now?  Is it because it is animated?  I've seen some people mention that it wasn't heavily marketed, which might be true, but I can say that I've seen commercials for it at least 4 times a day for the past couple weeks.  Anyways, just a little surprised how poorly it did at the box office, I expected a little more.  Not over $100 or anything, but like I said, at least double the $15 it did.

Like I mentioned earlier, and other people have said, I enjoyed it and appreciate the aspect that this generation's kids will probably love this.  The kids in the theatre I was in seemed pretty pumped about it.  Definitely looking forward to seeing this on a weekly basis though, and seeing more of the Jedi/Clones/etc. in the spotlight.  I'll probably see the movie once more, as my nephews want me to take them to it.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 18, 2008, 03:56 PM
On the animation point with Obi's hair...  If I'm not mistaken, the characters are to be puppet-like in their styling, so they're not really to "move with the wind" and things.  That's where the references to the old Thunderbirds show have come in when the movie was compared to various other shows.  IE: it's intentional, not just poor quality. 

The graphics were poor intentionally for style? You actually believe that? That's an old Disney marketing ploy for, "We didn't want to spend money making it look good, so we went with a cheap and simple graphical style instead." That way LFL can fire the actual ILM animators and outsource it to Korea for a dollar an hour. This is what Disney tried to do during the Eisner years and what John Lasseter is trying to turn back around now. What we have here is the difference in quality between a classic Disney animated feature (the Little Mermaid) vs Disney made for TV/DVD sequal (the Little Mermaid 2). They are dumbing down the quality in order to save money while increasing the price of toys. It cheapens the brand. You guys are good with that?
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jayson on August 18, 2008, 04:31 PM
The quality isn't "dumbed down" if the tv and movie characters/vehicle share the exact same models - it'll be consistent if anything.

I'd have an issue if it was sold as one thing but delivered as another. The animated character designs were never intended to be life-like nor photorealistic. This is a new style and it'll take some getting used to for some.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Keonobi on August 18, 2008, 04:47 PM
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.  Maybe a lot of theaters don't want to show a movie for only a weekend or two, which might be what is planned here if a fall DVD release is accurate. 

I was going to take my nephew to see if it at the one theater a couple miles from my house, but they weren't showing it, we had to turn around and drive 20 miles the other way to one of the big malls to find a theater that was showing the Clone Wars.  On the plus side there four guys in costume (Darth Vader, three stormies and R2-D2 though he was remote controlled).  I think they were there working for the cinema though and not just fans as they were back at the top of the escalator when the movie got out.  I live near Albany NY, so there isn't the same number of 501st people there are in CA or other areas, so it was kinda neat for my nephew and I.

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.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Brian on August 18, 2008, 04:49 PM
Yeah, I think the animation style is all a matter of taste.  I actually kind of like it, at least as opposed to the more "realistic" stuff.  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.  I'm sure Lucasfilm could have went that route too (I think Lucas even mentioned that at some point), but if we're getting an animated series like this - I'm fine with it looking cartoony like it does.  Like its been mentioned, the vehicles and everything do look amazing.  I think it will all look better on the small screen, but if the style isn't a person's taste it just isn't going to look good anywhere.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Keonobi on August 18, 2008, 04:54 PM
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.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: JangoTat on August 18, 2008, 04:56 PM
Quote
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.

Quote
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.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Muftak 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. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: I Am Sith 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.)...
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: JesseVader08 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.

Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jayson 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.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James 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...

Quote
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.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Theo Zissou 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. :)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: David 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! :)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: DSJ™ 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 (http://www.watch-movies.net/movies/star_wars_the_clone_wars/)!  :-X

Downloading the flick now.  ;D
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jayson 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.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: JangoTat 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 (http://www.watch-movies.net/movies/star_wars_the_clone_wars/)!  :-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.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Darth Broem 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.

Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Scott 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
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James 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.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Scott 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?
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Keonobi on August 20, 2008, 02:38 PM
I think in the Clone Wars comic Series Durge and Anakin fight on a cruiser and Anakin knocks him into an escape pod and launches the pod into a star.  Where that happens in the timeline compared to the Clone Wars movie/TV shows, I don't recall.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: I Am Sith on August 20, 2008, 02:50 PM
I'm not sure either.  I really hope that they decide to put him in the tv series.  Like I said in my post above, they need some more bad guys and he's one of the baddest of the characters introduced in the Dark Horse series...
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 20, 2008, 03:37 PM
Didn't Durge get blown up by a clone trooper after Obiwan jumped out of him? What was the last five minutes of the clone wars vol 1?
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jeff on August 20, 2008, 03:56 PM
Didn't Durge get blown up by a clone trooper after Obiwan jumped out of him?

Yes, he did get "exploded" by Obi-Wan, but he got better.  Chalk it up to his EU-source magic healing powers... 

And yes - near the end of the Clone Wars, Durge did get put in an escape pod and he did get ejected into a sun in an attempt to kill him (it's in the issue that comes with the new Anakin/Durge comic pack), but that apparently didn't kill him either. 

According to the Star Wars Galaxies video game series, Imperial scientists rounded up some pieces of Durge and tried to ressurect him...  he ends up as some sort of new armored cyborg character in the game so that Fett can kill him off... again.

It's EU-tastic!  (http://www.jedidefender.com/images/newsicons/icon16.gif)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 20, 2008, 06:39 PM
Druge to Obiwan: "It's just a flesh wound."


Druge was only Mostly Dead.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Diddly on August 21, 2008, 12:53 AM
Saw it tonight, liked it overall, didn't care for some things (mainly Ziro). I freaking loved the interior shots of the pre-Star Destroyers. Realistic Clone Officer action figure please! I would have liked to see more Jedi outside of Obi-Wan and Anakin, hopefully the show will give the less popular Jedi in action.

I also laughed at how it basically destroyed all Prequel canon. Didn't Obi-Wan and Anakin not see Dooku again until the fight in ROTS?
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 21, 2008, 01:15 AM
I agree on the whole Dooku/Anakin fight...  I liked it, but it goes against Anakin facing Dooku aboard the Separatist Flagship at the onset of ROTS.  They seemed to pick up their fight from the end of AOTC what with Anakin saying he'd learned much since their last visit...  Why would you say that if you'd seen him just a little while ago, ya know?
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: jedipurge on August 21, 2008, 12:21 PM
I agree on the whole Dooku/Anakin fight...  I liked it, but it goes against Anakin facing Dooku aboard the Separatist Flagship at the onset of ROTS.  They seemed to pick up their fight from the end of AOTC what with Anakin saying he'd learned much since their last visit...  Why would you say that if you'd seen him just a little while ago, ya know?

Well we really don't know where in the timeline we are here.  It's somewhere between the OG clone wars and volume 2.  The clones are still in their phase I armor so there is still potentially alot of time there.  We could still be in year one of the CW, w/Ani barely being a Knight.  With 2 more years to go until ROTS events it's still a lot of time.  Now if ObI/Ani meet Grevious that'll through it outta whack since there were obvious introductions there.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Scott on August 21, 2008, 03:50 PM
When did Anakin get his eye scar?  Because he has that in 3D
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 21, 2008, 11:12 PM
Exactly, plus Anakin is not a padawan anymore either IIRC...  He's a full knight, scarred, and his hair's beginning to grow out too.  There's ways to place Anakin in the timeline.  Clone armor can change at almost any moment that the Clones get back off a front line or get resupplied while they're out so that's a rougher way to gauge I think.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Diddly on August 22, 2008, 01:16 AM
I finally remembered the other point I was going to mention - Tatooine. I'm pretty sure Anakin never went back to Tatooine after AOTC (that's even one of the reasons why they put Luke there, because they knew Vader would never return). This movie/show is just negating pretty much everything in the Star wars universe I guess.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Daigo-Bah on August 25, 2008, 10:01 PM
I saw this yesterday with my little girl, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it (though since severing post-OT from my canon, I like just about everything since it never "really" happens  :P).  Ziro was hilarious!  I loved the animation; I thought it was beautiful, like a digital watercolor painting.  I didn't read everything in this thread, but has anyone mentioned about when they said Admiral Yularen?  As in Wulf Yularen, the white-suited Imperial officer.  Neat little tie-in there.  I'll be there for the TV show for sure.

Edited to add: I think the "problem" Lucasfilm has with this is that it's clearly a kids' show with a serious theme.  The LFL of the past would have made a cartoon about podracers, or padawans in school, or gungans, etc.  To make a kids' show about war and with the complexity of the prequels and clone wars mythos is just counter-intuitive.  The characters and situations are for adult fans, the storylines are for kids, so you have adult fans disgusted with how it was handled and kids exposed to gay Hutts and decapitated bounty hunters!
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: speedermike on August 26, 2008, 08:54 PM
I finally remembered the other point I was going to mention - Tatooine. I'm pretty sure Anakin never went back to Tatooine after AOTC (that's even one of the reasons why they put Luke there, because they knew Vader would never return). This movie/show is just negating pretty much everything in the Star wars universe I guess.

But here's the thing about what's "canon"...never once in ROTS (the movie) did they mention Anakin's feelings about Tatooine.  We assumed that he would never go back, but it was never(!) mentioned in the film.  Therefore, he could be going back each week for all we know.

Same with the Dooku comment at the beginning of ROTS.  Maybe the last time they saw each other was this Tatooine fight.  We don't know.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Phrubruh on August 27, 2008, 09:26 AM
I'm sure in the cartoon series Dooku and Anakin will meet every week. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to see them hanging out at the cantina bar.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: jedipurge on August 27, 2008, 11:49 AM
I saw this yesterday with my little girl, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it (though since severing post-OT from my canon, I like just about everything since it never "really" happens  :P).  Ziro was hilarious!  I loved the animation; I thought it was beautiful, like a digital watercolor painting.  I didn't read everything in this thread, but has anyone mentioned about when they said Admiral Yularen?  As in Wulf Yularen, the white-suited Imperial officer.  Neat little tie-in there.  I'll be there for the TV show for sure.

Edited to add: I think the "problem" Lucasfilm has with this is that it's clearly a kids' show with a serious theme.  The LFL of the past would have made a cartoon about podracers, or padawans in school, or gungans, etc.  To make a kids' show about war and with the complexity of the prequels and clone wars mythos is just counter-intuitive.  The characters and situations are for adult fans, the storylines are for kids, so you have adult fans disgusted with how it was handled and kids exposed to gay Hutts and decapitated bounty hunters!

I forget where I saw the link, think it was starwars.com, that had 10 things to watch out for in the movie and they mention Wulf.

Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 28, 2008, 02:08 AM
In true EU stupidity though, he's Admiral Yularren in the CW and Colonel Yularren in ANH?  Lame...  The guy must've pissed someone off just enough to get demoted but not choked out I guess.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Matt_Fury on August 28, 2008, 02:38 AM
Or their military sturcture is different.  Or maybe he's a relative?

Two more lame excuses I know.  ::)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 28, 2008, 03:11 AM
Actually I was betting on it being the latter (IE: how they'll BS it and make it acceptable), but not the former...  The military structure varying would be uber retarded to me...  I was already telling myself the guy must be a relative, not the same person, though they seemed to aim to make him look the same or similar anyway.  I believe they probably did intend for it to be the same guy, but man they just didn't think through the rank thing it seems.

Shoulda gone with Motti's dad or something.

Hell he's not even in the navy anymore going from Admiral to Colonel.  Maybe he decided to change careers and tackle the hiearchey of the army too? :)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Keonobi on August 28, 2008, 08:59 AM
This might be a little, ok lot, of a stretch but something happened like that in the US.  During the Civil war a lot of guys were promoted very fast up the ranks, I think Custer was the youngest general ever, age 23, at the end of the war he was a Major General.  When he joined the Army after the war he was a Lt. Colonel.

So maybe they'll explain this away by saying the Army of the Republic was disbanded after the Clone Wars, and Yularren lost his Flag, and then he worked his way back up in the Imperial Army.

Like I said, a stretch.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jeff on August 28, 2008, 09:31 AM
I believe they probably did intend for it to be the same guy, but man they just didn't think through the rank thing it seems.

He is deinitely supposed to be the same guy...  here's the text/pic from the Official Site's CW Easter Eggs feature (http://www.starwars.com/kids/read/cwspotter20080822.html?page=3):

Don't feel bad if you didn't recognize Admiral Yularen. He's pretty hard to spot, but he's in the original Star Wars, Episode IV. He's sitting on the Death Star, wearing an all-white uniform and has gone gray. The idea is that Yularen has served beside Anakin for decades, first in the Clone Wars, and later during the Empire when Anakin has become Darth Vader. We wonder what secrets he knows...

(http://www.starwars.com/img/kids/read/cwspotter20080822/yularen_comp.jpg)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 28, 2008, 02:17 PM
He must know how he went from Admiral to Colonel. :)  That's a friggin' mystery to me.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Muftak on August 28, 2008, 06:40 PM
There was some point when the EU said Yularen was a Grand Admiral though, wasn't there? And that was why he wore a white outfit? If they go back to that story instead of a Colonel in the ISP, then everything is right with the world again...(including why the figure has white pants instead of the black ISP pants.)
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 28, 2008, 09:50 PM
I've never heard/seen that.  Not saying it isn't true, I've just never heard/seen that anywhere in EU.  As far as I know he's still Colonel Yularren in Wookieepedia too which is usually up on those details.  Not sure but did he get credited in the movie?

I think I'm sticking with Yularren in ANH being a relative of Yularren in CW...  The rank thing doesn't jive with the original EU storyline to Yularren, and I hate EU rewrites.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on August 31, 2008, 11:04 PM
I caught CW3D again today...  Been meaning to take the kid and the woman, but man just can't get time.  Finally got time for a matinee. :)

So, we were in a theater with maybe 20 people, and at least 7 were children not counting mine, but the kids were in front of us going nuts which is always nice to see.

The movie's even better the 2nd time I found...  Caught more of the detail.  The animation is OUTSTANDING when it wants to be too.  I think that argument's just not rooted in reality.  Check out the hardware if you're looking for detail...  The cruisers, the ships, etc. are phenomenal.  My gf even mentioned the characters look like puppets, and that I found interesting since that's the supposed goal.

The kids thought the droids were funny, and really they are amusing.  They're dumb and I like that being played up a lot as it explains why droids can outnumber Clones 50 to 1 and still lose.  It's also really great seeing how SBD's are badasses, and Droideka's are not taken lightly by anyone, especially Jedi.  The spider droids kind of like "dogs" was neat too.

Dooku's character is fantastic in the movie I think.  Dark, sinister...  His appearance being creepy and odd makes more sense with his character getting more background.  I always hated how he went out in ROTS and CW3D is actually making up for that.  He's a mean mofo, or at least gives that impression, in CW.  I hope Grievous is similarly expanded upon, as his ROTS appearances are less than inspiring and he dies like a chump really.

My biggest gripe is clearly shifted now to dialogue between Ahsoka and Anakin.  Beyond their little nicknames though, the rest is funny I think.  Actually her "snips" is ok, but it's her calling him "Sky Guy" and R2 "R2ey" that gets more annoying...  Talking to a mentor like that is odd.  Ani didn't really do that to Obi, and it just seems akward then to me.  It's not a deal breaker, but it is slightly annoying.  Her smart assed remarks to Anakin though fit well, and i felt the two characters work better together than if Ahsoka didn't exist.  I'm not a fan of Anakin getting a Padawan myself, but to me that's not a huge deal and explainable (enough).

The Clones rock though, and they are the stars.  Every combat sequence is made by Clone military talk, action, warrin', whorin', and never borin'.  One of my favorite parts is Ahsoka's "tension" aboard the Gunship.  Even the Clones, pure professionals at their jobs, make her nervous.  She's antsy just watching them get ready for work and that's cool I think.

And if people are really bothered by Ziro the Hutt, to me they weren't going into the cartoon with any kind of open mind at all.  He's Jabba, only eccentric, and I love it.  I think as a movie, it's fun and worth checking out more than once even...  It ain't shakespeare, but kids are loving it as near as I see (and the toys are selling steadily), and parents can enjoy it too for the adult side it does try to give to people.  As a TV show I think it's going to be incredible, especially considering the new trailer out on Cartoon Network.  That's pretty neat and something to look forward again to already.  I'm loving the non-stripped-down Y-Wings.  It 100% just wrote over existing EU, but I love the new look far more.
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Scott on September 1, 2008, 10:40 PM
I've read a couple of kids books the last couple of days and it seems the plot has changed considerably from what ended up on screen...

Specifically, after Anakin and Ahsoka get Stinky they meet up with Ventress, according to the book they all end up in a Rancor pit and the Rancor steps on Ventress and Anakin, Ahsoka and Stinky escape.  I wonder what happened there?  Or if Rancor will show up later?

Anyway, we saw it again on Saturday and again, my kids loved it as did most of the kids in the audience. 
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on September 2, 2008, 01:42 AM
And how was dad?

I honestly enjoyed it more the 2nd time and that says a lot since I liked it the first time...  Diane actually liked it a lot too.  She said it's clearly geared at a younger audience, but that it has a lot of action that adults should have fun watching.  She knew I'd be geeked over the Clones.  She liked Ziro the Hutt and his "weirdness" too. 
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Scott on September 5, 2008, 12:14 AM
To be completely honest, I still liked it and I found myself watching the backgrounds and all that and I found it even more enjoyable.  My boys though, wow they are pumped for 10/3 and I guess I can't blame them, imagine growing up with SW on TV every Friday night instead of some lame Hillbillys driving a Charger with a confedarate flag painted on the top
Title: Re: Clone Wars Movie Reviews - SPOILER Thread
Post by: Jesse James on September 5, 2008, 12:20 AM
You sir, just took a massive poop on my childhood, but I agree...  And on top of that, it's Star WARS, not the lame lovestory crap and Anakin this and that, but rather it's actual warfare, and kids love that crap.  I can't find a Rex near me actually, and that I think speaks volumes about this cartoon's impact on children.  I saw not a ton in the theater last weekend, but the kids there were like with you Scott, and they loved every second of it and laughed at every joke (lame or ok), and were all talking about toys as the movie went on...  That really is a sign it's a success I think. 

I don't think the figures are doing too bad either...  I see animated and Legends mostly but I think Legacy's getting overlooked by retailers, as predicted by some.