May the cash
be with you

George Lucas further pads his
wallet with the release of the animated
Star Wars:The Clone Wars

CGI JEDIS: The Clone Wars

by CHRISTOPHER SYKES

To even the most diehard fanboy, the Star Wars galaxy is a confusing one. Everyone and their grandma knows that at its core, the saintly Jedi struggle is to valiantly keep evil at bay throughout the universe. However, it takes great patience and a keen memory to recount the Star Wars timeline from Episode I through VI, let alone recognize a mutated Nelvaanian from a Rattataki. (For further clarification, check out the “Wookiepedia” at starwars.wikia.com).

The feature-length animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes place chronologically between Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Things are not looking particularly upbeat for the Jedis and the Galactic Republic. A host of succeeding star systems waffling to the Separatists’ Confederacy have Republic morale at a low point. War rages between the clones and the droids. To make matters worse, someone has kidnapped Jabba the Hutt’s infant son and Jabba’s willing to help whichever side returns the love of his loins.

Despite the conclusion of the prequel trilogy three years ago, the Star Wars franchise continues to be a financial juggernaut with its constant release of paraphernalia. Fresh off the high of cashing his latest cheques from the revived Indiana Jones franchise, George Lucas and his crew at Lucasfilm Animation are leading the onslaught against allowances. The release of Clones has been coordinated to springboard into a TV series later this fall. A fresh line of action figures, computer games and LEGO sets are all in the mix.

That’s pretty much what The Clone Wars amounts to: a money grab. While the CG is flawlessly constructed, the film lacks the heart that the original trilogy was built around. The addition of new central characters such as Skywalker’s apprentice Ahsoka Tano instilled in me a nervous shudder of Jar Jar Binksian proportions. The banter between the precocious youngling and her mentor is bereft of any complexity and reeks of TV writing. I like seeing a lightsaber duel on the big screen as much as the next guy, but for the love of Yoda, let’s hope Lucas gets some wittier scribes for the series.

The Clone Wars opens
this Friday, Aug. 15

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