Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Lucasfilm Animation
Blu-ray: Warner Home Video
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 98 minu
Chapters: 46
Size: 50 GB
Case: Standard Amaray Blu-ray case
Release date: November 11, 2008
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: VC-1
Audio:
Dolby True HD English 5.1 EX. Dolby
Digital: English, French, Spanish &
Portuguese 5.1 EX
Subtitles:
English, French, Spanish & Portuguese
Extras:
• A Creative Conversation Video
Commentary with Director Dave Filoni,
Producer Catherine Winder, Writer Henry
Gilroy & Editor Jason Tucker. (Exclusive
to Blu-ray, but not in HD)
• Featurette: The Clone Wars: The Untold
Stories (HD – 30:00)
• Featurette: The Voices of The Clone
Wars (HD – 9:41)
• Featurette: A New Score with Composer
Kevin Kiner (HD – 10:34)
• A Gallery of Concept & Production Art
(HD – 43 images)
• Webisodes: 6 Making of Featurettes (HD
– 21:20)
• Take the Hologram Memory Challenge
• Deleted Scenes (2:44)
• Trailers (in HD & SD – 5:30)
• Digital Copy Disc
The Film:
5
Once again I think we have to give a
round of drinks to those responsible for
low expectations. Rotten Tomatoes gave
this movie a mere 20. My score was much
higher, though still only a 5, which is
about a point lower than my average
score for Episodes 1-3.
The Clone Wars might become the first of
a series of Star Wars animated feature
films from Lucasfilm Animation, or it
mat simply serve as a promo piece for the
TV series of the same name that has just
gotten underway. Expect to see the
characters you have come to know and
love, plus some new ones, in new
adventures. The Clone Wars takes place
roughly between Episode 2 (Attack of
the Clones) and Episode 3 (Revenge
of the Sith) and fleshes out the
relationship of Jabba the Hutt and the
Hutts relationship to the war between
the Army of the Republic, led by Yoda,
Mace-Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin
Skywalker and the Separatists, led by
Count Dooku, General Grievous and Asajj
Ventress.
It seems that the Hutts have gained
control of some important space lanes
and both Separatists and the Republic
are vying for the Hutt's support. Dooku
comes up with a plan to kidnap Jabba's
infant son and blame the deed on the
Republic. As plans go, it's just complex
and neatly thought out enough to hold
our interest – not much less so than in
the live action episodes, especially
given that it's a half hour shorter. The
dialogue is no less smart, though it is
odd to have the same sort of lines
spoken by animated characters instead of
live ones. In some instances this works
in its favor, in others the loss of
facial nuance is a liability.
I have written elsewhere of my
preference that animation not try to
recreate the illusion of humans. It is
one of the things I particularly admire
about Pixar: that their humans are
metaphorical caricatures in keeping with
the art direction of the particular
movie in question. Classic Disney, on
the other hand, always went for a more
representational look for their humans.
In traditional anime, characters are
drawn with the idea of animating a comic
rather than imitating life. This is the
art form, and we accept or reject it on
those terms. I found The Clone Wars to
have, in its own way, got it wrong: All
the robots, droids and aliens were
great, but the humans had the appearance
of moving statues. Adding insult to this
state of affairs, the good guys all
looked like wimps compared to the bad
guys.
An important new character is introduced
in the movie/series: Ahsoka Tano, a
young Padawan trainer, now apprenticed
to Anakin. The idea was to develop the
light side of the Jedi, most likely to
help set up his fall when tragedy
inevitably strikes. (This is just a
guess. Ahsoka will be with us for a
while yet.) There is a considerable
amount of repartee between Anakin and
Ahsoka, which is just this side of
cloying, but should amuse the younger
fanbase. My only complaint about Ahsoka
is the way she is drawn: I'm sure it's
just me, but her Egyptian pharaoh's
daughter headdress drives me crazy: it
makes her so top heavy, it's a wonder
she moves about without tipping over,
let alone with the agility she is
granted.
The story, voicing, and characterization
– except for Ahsoka and the animation of
humans - is all pretty decent,
especially the background art direction,
which is superb. I had the feeling in
many of the action sequences that I've
been here before – only with live actors
in a more textured CG fabric. The one
informed and, to some extent –
disparaged the other. It was a very odd
sensation.
Image:
8/9
The first number indicates a relative
level of excellence compared to other
Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point
scale. The second number places this
image along the full range of DVD and
Blu-ray discs.
For an image with such low bit rates
(nominally about 15 MBPS), the image is
quite lovely – at least on immediate
impression. Of course, there is no
excuse, really, for such numbers, given
its being a dual layer disc. Warner
could have done without the Creative
Conversation Video Commentary (see
Extras) altogether and awarded the space
to the feature film image. Carping
aside, the image is very nice, if just a
little soft and fuzzy. The main reason
it looks so good, however, is really due
to the excellent art direction (see
caps). Colors are saturated, contrast is
strong with good, noiseless blacks.
Audio & Music:
8/6
Much is made of the score by Kevin Kiner
in the extra features – a score that
owes its life to John Williams. When we
are most aware of that fact – as when
the Star Wars logo bursts onto the
screen, from behind, as it were –
Kiner's rewriting suffers most. This is
partly because Williams nailed the pulse
to begin with and Kiner's dotted rhythm
rewrite only makes it seem strangely
square. But once into the movie, Kiner's
talent begins to shine, whether he is
channeling Williams or not. The
uncompressed audio mix is quite good:
enveloping and dynamic with good
directional cues for all the various
firepower and crossed swords.
Operations:
10
Another excellent menu design from
Warner: It's easy to see where you are,
where you want to go, and how to get
there. A brief description of each
destination pops up in the lower right
corner, along with a thumbnail and its
runtime. I very much liked the option to
return to the feature film or the menu
when I wanted to exit from a bonus
feature.
Extras:
6
Aside from the cheaply conceived
Creative Conversation Video Commentary
and Art Gallery, this Blu-ray sports
some informative and entertaining extra
features. The problem with the Creative
Conversation is that it is simply a
picture-in-picture commentary of dudes
sitting in a theatre row – unintended
associations with Beavis & Butthead -
making like talking heads while the
feature runs above them. It's all
executed in not very high quality SD,
when it should have been HD, in which
case the talking heads PIP should be
smaller. Once we've seen these guys, why
should we want to watch them for an hour
and a half? There is one plus here:
occasionally a third window appears
which is an approximate live action
movie equivalent of the inspiration for
the characters. In any case, the
commentary would have been the same as
on the audio commentary channel – except
that there isn't any! The Gallery of
Concept & Production Art is likewise
strangely conceived: smallish images
against huge wasted space filled with a
distracting background.
The rest is fun to watch, mixing the
promotional with the informative: The
Clone Wars: The Untold Stories puts the
movie in context with the TV series. In
case we hadn't been following this line
of thought, we learn that the feature
film is derived from the television CG
animation series titled: Star Wars: The
Clone Wars, in which many adventures
occur between the live action Episodes 2
& 3. The featurette is chock full of
tantalizing bits from the series, all in
lovely 1080i. You might think of the
animated feature film as a promo for the
series, which began just this past
October 3, rather than vice-versa. Given
how well the TV series are produced, I
can see Blu-ray manifestations in their
future, possibly in this very galaxy.
The six promotional Webisodes, to a
degree, repeat some of the stuff from
The Untold Stories, but there's new
material here, as well – all in HD.
Voices of the Clone Wars looks at how
the actors behind the masks are
directed. The segment about the new
composer for the new series is just what
you'd expect: a look at the ways Kevin
Kiner's music is and isn't John
Williams.
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Bottom line:
6
Not nearly as bad as many critics have
held, I thought. The art direction is
the real star here: very much in keeping
with the live action movies, but more
intriguing. The good guys look static,
but the bad guys are demonic in their
way. The image quality is good, though a
little soft. Audio is dynamic, if not
belly punching, which is appropriate,
considering this is really a made-for-TV
movie.
Leonard Norwitz
Lensview
November 7th, 2008
