Surprisingly entertaining!

rorymacveigh-66661

Indeed as far as cartoon shows go, there's only a few that are made to be entertaining for both adults and children, but Star Wars Clone Wars does in fact have a very gripping story that bridges the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Initially the episodes aired on Cartoon Network were about 5 to 7 minutes long and based around a single battle, although vignettes of other battles on other planets are slipped into the mix from time to time, but later episodes went on to be about half an hour long and followed a single plot, which is where the story gets really very interesting.

So what's the bacon? The first set of episodes follows Anakin, Obi- Wan and their Clone Army as they lead an assault on a planet which houses an abandoned city within which is hidden a single cannon firing randomly into the ether (it's not explained particularly well, why don't they just come up behind it?). But things heat up when we're introduced to Count Dooku's apprentice, who is tasked to go out and lure Anakin away in a vicious lightsaber battle on the planet Yavin IV, a world later inhabited by the Rebel Alliance in its plight against the Death Star (at least they bothered to explain that!).

I won't give away too much of the second story, but let's just say it's very satisfactory and ties up the beginning of Episode III perfectly as to what the reason is for that massive space battle in the opening.

The characters seem true to form (as true to what they were in Episode II) but you do see a legitimate maturity of Anakin's character from the angry teen he was in the last movie to a more settled Jedi Knight in Episode III. Obi-Wan is wise and strong, Yoda remains on par, Count Dooku is calmly diabolical, very much reflecting what was before and keeping it up to spec.

The animation is rather confusing however, with the characters being angular in design and a little... well... deformed almost, but I consider the story to be enough to hold the line.

Overall, it was a very good series. The first set of episodes may drag a bit, with it being just the same old battle going on for episode after episode, but later episodes with the more developed story and the longer running time are well worth the viewing, especially if you found yourself confused by the opening of Revenge of the Sith.

score 9/10

rorymacveigh-66661 28 March 2015

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3209662/