Clone Wars

Because i'm a geek I lined up outside Greater Union yesterday morning to see the first session of the new Star Wars film. I'm pleased to say that the new Star Wars movie, The Clone Wars, is A Good Thing.

That said, the animation will take a bit of getting used to. It's based on the animation from the 2D cartoon series, which was highly stylised. Seeing it in 3D rendering is a bit weird. Also, the addition of a new Padawan for Anakin was not really necessary. In the form of the Padawan (a sassy, feisty pre-teen alien chick) I sense the return of Jar-Jar Binks.

But they're only a few small points when the overall movie is considered. It remains canon, using the Sith assassin Asajj Ventress again: not really explaining how she excaped death at the end of the cartoon series but merely telling us that she did. Being all CGI the battle scenes (the entire movie is one long battle scene, more or less) are spectacular, and we get to see the Republic Commandos in action! We see inside Jabba's palace again, the Cantina Band is back, and i'll watch a computer generated Hayden Christensen over the real one any day.

I'd give it an 8 out of 10: 1 point off for the padawan and 1 point off because no-one fell into an abyss after any of the lightsaber duels. There are unwritten rules, dammit!