It's really good, but does have some flaws

riordantheking

It's pretty funny that the best Star Wars story set in the prequel era comes as a miniseries that aired on Cartoon Network of all places, from 2003 to 2004. I believe this series to be superior to the 2008 computer animated version (which is still pretty good), and far superior to the three live action films.

The series has many subplots, each showing a different characters situation during the famous Clone War. These include showing well known characters like Anakin and Obi-Wan, and also minor characters, like Luminary Unduli and Barriss Offee. While these aren't connected in story, they are connected in the theme of war and how it changes people, something touched on but not really explored in depth in the live action prequel films.

The animation is fantastically stylised, and in my opinion, is far better than the 3D animation from the later Clone Wars series. Characters move in fluid motions, and the voices are well synced up to the mouths of the characters. Each character looks a lot like their live action counterparts, and for the most part, they sound pretty similar too.

The characters introduced in this series are great. Asaaj Ventress, later popularised in the 3D series, is given an introduction and an ending in this, which is more than she got in the later series. General Grievous is awesome in this, a far cry from the wheezing coward seen in Revenge of the Sith. There is a great scene in which Grievous single-handedly dispatches of numerous Jedi, which really sells how powerful his character is.

It does have flaws, which is a disappointment, seeing how great the rest of the series is, such as some really bland voice acting, in particular, Mat Lucas as Anakin, who makes Hayden Christensen look positively amazing. There is also the case of the Jedi being even more over-powered than they are in the live action prequels. There is a part where Mace Windu destroys a whole army of battle Droids just by using the force, which begs the question as to why he didn't do that at the end of Attack of the Clones.

But overall, I really love this series, and how it perfectly connects Episodes II and III of the saga. Now, it had sadly been rendered non-canon, and does raise questions in continuity if watched along side the 3D version, but really, I'd rater watch this series anyway.

score 8/10

riordantheking 8 September 2016

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3540438/