Now That Was a Surprise! Clone Wars Review

I gotta say... I am shocked and incredibly surprised at how much I enjoyed the new animated movie Star Wars: The Clone Wars! In fact, I probably enjoyed that movie more then any of the three prequel films which have come out of the past 10 years!

Now... maybe it's because I've had ZERO expectations going into this film. Let's face it, Star Wars really hasn't lived up to all the hype this past decade. The past ten years has brought us Jar Jar Binks, dim witted robots, incredibly cheesy love dialogue and other tidbits I'd rather not relive. My main objective with this movie was to have a good time with my son. This was the first Star Wars movie that we've allowed him to watch. And I wanted to really enjoy it with him.... in fact, the entire theater was filled with middle aged men and their young sons... so I guess I wasn't the only one :-)
And I just loved it! I had a great great time in watching this movie. Watching Cameron spell bound by the action and the characters really brought me back to when I was six years old watching the original with my dad. (Yes... I'm a sentimental suck! And I'm OK with that!)
First off, the animation was beautiful! Originally I didn't like the cartoon Clone Wars shorts on the cartoon network... and this is very much based on that. But they really blew the micro chips putting together this animation. It was just incredible to look at. At some points I even forgot I was watching animation and just got into it. The ships and scenery were just as good (if not better) then the prequels!
The story. I really enjoyed it. Sure... it was pretty simple and geared to a younger audience, but that sat just fine with me. I thought the subplots and how all the major characters were involved was well put together and actually flowed really nicely. It managed to hold my attention for the duration of the film... again, something that the prequels never managed to do!
The characters were great. Obi-Wan Kenobi is by far my favorite Star Wars character... in every incarnation we find him in. And he stays very true to form in this one. It was great to see Anakin Skywalker as the famed Jedi General that we all knew that he was supposed to be, instead of the whinny, very non-interesting version in the prequels. You could actually believe that he was the Chosen One and was going to single handily win the war! I even like the introduction of a Padawan student to Anakin named Ahsoka Tano. Sure... sometimes she was a tad too cute for my taste... but I'm sure my 5 year daughter would have LOVED her (if I had let her come with us that is...)
All in all... I am flat out impressed with this latest chapter in the Star Wars story. And this has got me really pumped at seeing the Clone Wars continue on TV and the other live action series which is in the works. Go see it... and bring the kids!

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