The Case for Multiplicity

It is hard to express how low my expectations were going into Star Wars: the Clones Wars. Having experienced the devastating disappointment of the “prequel” trilogy, where special effects took the place of characterisation and horrendously complex (and to my way of thinking, nonsensical) plot supplanted fun and adventure, I was ready for the animated tales of the Republican Jedi versus the Separatist Robot Army to – to not put too fine a point on it – suck.

The Clone Wars is patched together from episodes from a prospective TV series aimed at children with attention deficit disorder, so themes and lines are repeated over and over again. It also meant though that most time was spent fighting and running around and blowing things up than talking about trade violations, so the whole thing trotted along at a fair pace until the horse encountered a plot hurdle, at which point it stumbled a bit, muddled through, and then carried on.

It is perhaps harsh to say that the characters in the animated movie had a lot more personality and were many times more empathetic than their flesh and blood counterparts. Harsh, but not untrue. Anakin Skywalker in particular was near likable, perhaps by the simple approach of removing the whole brooding “Doomed to Darth” anticipation and just playing him as a fairly happy go lucky and reckless Jedi. The other characters were much more in keeping with their grown-up film selves, for good or ill, and the new characters were fine, though of course will ultimately be pointless to the grander story (unless Anakin slays his pupil – now, that would an interesting twist for the kiddies).

While the film had nowhere near enough space battles for one such as myself, the other action sequences were entertaining enough. One of the contrivances of the plot is that the Jedi are fighting a robot army, so the slaughter of thousands of non-sentient beings leaves very little room for moral quandaries. The Clones of course are all Tems (he is everywhere! With so many different hair cuts!), and they are the red-shirted good guy cannon fodder, though to save the sensitive younglings, I noted that they all met the end of their mortality with their Storm Trooper helmets on.

In the end, my mind wandered as the story dragged, and the attempts at humour were as laboured as ever, but the pretty pictures kept me from glancing at my watch too often. And as the final credits rolled, I had to smile and admit it was not too bad. Definitely not great, but better than I had feared.

Verdict: How can one trust a modern Star Wars film that starts with the Warner Brothers “As Time Goes By” intro rather than the Fox fanfare? More than the “real” series, if this effort is anything to go by. The Clone Wars is squarely aimed at children, with the only real enticement for adults being the lure of their own childhood memories and the original Holy Trilogy. It would not convert anyone to the Force, but it will make a great computer game, which is possibly the point of the exercise. 5 Jawas out of 10.