Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars is back - and the Force is with it.

Gone is the Fox fanfare, the opening text crawl (replaced with a more kid-friendly ‘previously on…’ visual recap) and John Williams’ theme has received a sonic funk-up.

But, the brains behind the movie know slavish attention to detail often loses the real flavour, and like the original cheeky 2-D animation Clone Wars (from Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky, not present here) this instalment captures the awe and excitement of the original Star Wars trilogy.

The Clone Wars are ravaging the galaxy, with the Republic, led by Yoda and shifty chancellor Palpatine, battling the Separatist movement under the command of Count Dooku.

Deep in the heart of battle are Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, generals leading the clone army against Dooku’s legion of formidable droids.

When uber-slug Jabba the Hutt’s son is kidnapped, the Jedi Council sees a rescue as a way to win Jabba’s trust and secure supply lines through his systems.  But, Dooku and his dark acolyte Asajj Ventress also seek Jabba’s nipper for their own ends.

The plot flips and barrel-rolls like an X-Wing fighter, but a focus on spectacular set-pieces keeps the film fast and thrilling so adults can admire the scale of the movie and younglings won’t have time for fidgets.

A vertical battle on a cliff face as the clone army advances on a monastery to retrieve Jabba’s son is contender for action sequence of the year, and photo-realistic dogfights come close to touching Return of the Jedi’s still unsurpassed assault on the Death Star.

Director Filoni breathes more life into characters CGI’d from the 2-D series than George Lucas could with Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor (and he ropes in series regulars Sam Jackson, Christopher Lee and Anthony Daniels) although the character animation is better during the action than the slightly jerky dialogue scenes.

But, Anakin’s apprentice Ahsoka is a full-‘o-beans addition who should have been in Episodes I-III rather than Jar-Jar (kept offscreen here), and double lightsaber wielding Asajj Ventress is a better villain than Darth Maul, has a standout duel with Obi-Wan, and should shift action figures by the shed load.

Not as kid-targeted as certain reviews claim (although Hutt, Jr is a undeniable cutey), with backroom dealing involving another Hutt and Senator Amidala providing intrigue for older audience members, Star Wars: The Clone Wars may be a glorified pilot for the upcoming TV series, but as Episode 2.5 it brings back a certain amount of balance to the Force.

DVD REVIEW:
RRP: £19.99 (DVD), £27.99 (Blu-ray)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars comes to single disc DVD boasting a info-packed commentary from director Dave Filoni, writer Henry Gilory, producer Catherine Winder, and editor Jason W.A. Trucker (but no George Lucas), a good transfer and suitably sonic booming THX soundtrack.

However, Star Wars fans who have yet to join the Blu-ray revolution may be swayed by the Blu-ray's bounty of special features, and a simply stunning HD transfer that makes the film even sharper and more detailed than it was on the big screen.

Amongst the extras, Untold Stories is a 24 minute beginner's guide to TCW, profiling the show's first season (events following the story told here, but also working as stand alone adventures), acting as a taster for the enjoyable, sometimes thrilling small screen Star Wars.

The Voices of The Clone Wars provides lively behind the scenes footage of the cast lending their talented vocal chords - including unashamed cartoon fan Samuel L. Jackson, but more interesting is A New Score, with composer Kevin Kiner discussing stepping into John Williams' shoes and the job of scoring themes for not only characters, but planets.

Most of the action heavy deleted scenes are fun, but merely underline set-pieces already in the movie, apart from a fan-friendly duel between Anakin, Ahsoka and Asajj Ventress that spills into the Rancor pit (the Rancor being the monster Luke battles in Return of the Jedi).

Presumably removed because it references Anakin and Ventress' duel in the original Clone Wars cartoon (which this CGI makeover has distanced itself from), it is a well-staged five odd minutes of lightsaber derring-do with a nice gross-out punchline. 

Like the other deleted scenes, the Rancor battle is presented in a rough, unfinished form (although a polished shot from the scene crops up in a trailer).

Also included are webisodes explaining the creation and aims of the series, but the jewel in the Blu-ray edition's crown is the video commentary, taking the talk track from the standard DVD release and embellishing it with 24-style split screen interview footage, behind the scenes material, moments from the other movies, animatics, and concept art.

Fascinating and entertaining, this is surely the future of DVD commentaries.

Film: *** / Extras: ****

Rob Daniel