Movie and Television Reviews

Like some other human activities, even when Star Wars is bad, it's still pretty good (Let's face it: Star Wars jumped the Opee sea killer after Empire Strikes Back and has been running on zero-point energy fumes ever since.) In that spirit, Star Wars: Clone Wars should be fine for most boys and non-starlitist fans of the Star Wars universe.

Boba Fett:

1. The plot is fine with a few telegraphed, but interesting twists. It takes us through several adventurous locations. Clone Wars is set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith when Count Dooku is leading the Banking Clan separatists in a war against the Republic with the covert approval of Senator Palpatine.

2. It fit well within the Star Wars context. The Padawan named Ahsoka Tano is tragically killed in Revenge of the Sith. The weapons and spacecraft are familiar.

3. The animation is good, if not groundbreaking. Except for Obi-Wan's beard, it's sufficiently detailed. I think that at this point in human evolution, "spectacular" is going to be harder to achieve in special effects. Maybe we can concentrate more on stories now.

4. I initially didn't like the Anakin-Tano chemistry, but it ended up being O.K.

5. After plumbing the depths of human speech variance, the Star Wars people in charge of stereotyped accents come back home to the American South for Ziro the Hutt's voice.

6. The clones' combat scenes are very well done. Lot's of tactical movement and arm signals.

Jar Jar Binks:

1. Like all martial arts movies, the combat gets a little old after a while.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars received terrible reviews, proving that most movie critics are child-less man-boys without a life. If you want a spiritual experience, go to church, guys.

Politics/Message:

Some Hutts will find offense in the many references to their odor and manners. They have a point, too: Almost every Hutt we've seen on screen has been involved in crime. We never see the many hard-working Tatooinites trying to raise families.