NOT content with the two hugely popular trilogies, George Lucas serves up yet another chapter in the Star Wars saga with this animated adventure.

Aug 17 2008 Sunday Sun

Filling in the gaps between Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith, the film seems little more than a glossy teaser for a forthcoming television series.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars boasts lots of eye-popping action sequences, including a terrific opening skirmish between the Jedi Knights and the Separatist droid army.

Shaky camerawork, and viewing the showdown from the perspective of a clone trooper on the ground dodging enemy cannon fire, are neat touches and subsequent battles are choreographed at breakneck speed.

However, since we already know the full narrative arc of Lucas’s sprawling opus, there’s no dramatic tension.

All of the central characters must survive the film unharmed.

When the Dark Jedi assassin Asajj Ventress — voiced by Futterman — challenges Obi-Wan Kenobi to a duel to the death, the most excitement we can hope for is that one combatant might develop a nasty blister from gripping their light sabre too firmly.

The plot of The Clone Wars is absolute nonsense, revolving around the kidnapping of Jabba The Hutt’s son, Rotta, known affectionately as “Stinky”.

Obi-Wan visits Jabba to broker a deal and the Hutt leader grants the Galactic Republic one planetary rotation to rescue his beloved boy and return him to Tatooine.

Anakin Skywalker — Lanter — and young padawan Ahsoka Tano — Eckstein — lead the charge to planet Teth, where Asajj and her minions are holding Stinky hostage in an abandoned monastery.

“There’s more to this kidnapping than it seems,” ponders Mace Windu, voiced by Jackson.

“Greater than we think this mystery may be,” affirms Master Yoda — Kane — in his trademark gobbledygook.

Anakin and Ahsoka subsequently discover that the abduction is part of a dastardly scheme masterminded by nefarious Count Dooku — Lee — and Jabba’s power-hungry Uncle Ziro).

Star Wars: The Clone Wars overstretches a simple linear plot, which would fit snugly into a 30-minute TV episode, relying on technical wizardry to paper over the myriad cracks in the screenplay.

Fans of Lucas’s gargantuan universe will no doubt thrill to every clash of light sabers but, truthfully, there is nothing here that couldn’t have been accomplished just as well on the small screen.

While the action set pieces are well-suited to computer animation, certain effects cannot be replicated realistically using a hard drive . . . billowing smoke from a crash site, the cloud of sand disturbed as a Republic transporter touches down.

Also, the rendering of the effects of weight and inertia on human and alien characters isn’t convincing.

In many cases, movement as they walk or run is as stiff as C-3PO, whose brief appearance late in the film ensures that Anthony Daniels remains the only actor to have appeared in all seven Star Wars films.

3 Popcorns

DIRECTOR: Dave Filoni. VOICES: Samuel L Jackson, Christopher Lee, Matt Lanter, Ian Abercrombie, Anthony Daniels, Tom Kane, Ashley Drane, Matthew Wood. RUNNING TIME: 98mins. RATING: PG.