Well, it starts like a Star Wars movie- "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…" and then the familiar crash of the title card and theme music. But then instead of the majestic expository crawl the movies are so famous for, we get what sounds like a 1940's radio announcer racing through a lot of stuff about the Old Republic and the Separatist Army on some planet we've never heard of.
I've seen Attack of the Clones twice (and I'm not sure what that says about me) but I still didn't get what was going on here. In fact, most of the expository scenes in this movie are so rushed and incoherent you'd need a PhD in Star Wars mythology to get most of the references. Anyway, we eventually get to the planet were we find our friends Obi-Wan Kenobi (voice of James Arnold Taylor) and Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) trying to hold out against a bunch of robots until reinforcements arrive. Despite the fact they are currently in the middle of a war zone, they find enough time to meet Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) a young Jedi trainee who has been mistakenly assigned to Anakin.
Based on what we learn from subsequent movies, it's apparent that Anakin is not really the best person to train Jedi, but, like The Color of Money, the two will go through mistrust, grudging respect and finally mutual understanding. They'll reach that point after they get off the planet (which takes so long you'll wonder why the characters just don't move there) and go looking for the son of Jabba the Hutt (Kevin Michael Richardson) whose been kidnapped by members of the Separatist Army.
The stuff involving the Hutts is by far the most interesting thing in the film, as we also get to meet Jabba's distinctly feminine uncle Ziro (Corey Burton) who seems like a cross between a slug and Hermione Gingold. I wouldn't mind seeing a film called Hutt Family Reunion, where all the charming family get together in a gymnasium and are sleazy together.
The problems with The Clone Wars are obvious and have been pointed out by other critics. The animation is sub-standard. Despite the fact that the movie is CGI, a lot of the characters have a clay like appearance. The dialogue sounds like it was written by George Lucas himself (although it wasn't). The action scenes are also a problem. Part of the appeal of the Star Wars films is seeing something that couldn't actually happen in real life presented in a realistic way, and Lucas and his associates were indeed proficient at directing action sequences. When everything looks fake to begin with, the fights aren't nearly as impressive. Finally, the dialogue is on an Attack of the Clones level of banality, as bad as if Lucas had written it himself.
It's telling that only three actors from the live action films (Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Daniels, and Christopher Lee) returned to give their voices for this installment. Hayden Christensen will probably be remembered for the rest of his career as the guy who played Anakin Skywalker, but he correctly determined that The Clone Wars would not be a valuable addition to his legacy.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)