Clone Wars Rewatch: 5 thoughts on The Clone Wars movie

4. Spend more time with great characters

The Star Wars movies introduce us to a variety of characters, some beloved, others not (sorry Jar-Jar). The inherent downside of a movie is that it provides a limited amount of screen time, even to main characters. Adding an animated full-length feature film into Star Wars canon gives us another 98 minutes with some of our favorite characters.

In addition to the aforementioned Obi-Wan Kenobi, all of our favorites return in the movie and its subsequent show run. The film centers on Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, and the latter (voiced by Matt Lanter) is given an extended look in the film. We see the seeds of his eventual fall begin to blossom in this film.

We also see Anakin gain a Padawan, a young Togruta Jedi named Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein). While Tano is not a character from the live-action films (until her voice makes an appearance in Episode IX) she becomes a beloved mainstay among Star Wars fans, with a central role in The Clone Wars series and appearing in the future Rebels show as well.

R2-D2 is featured prominently as Anakin’s companion, and we see Padme Amidala and C-3PO (welcome back Anthony Daniels!) as well. Commander Cody, a character briefly mentioned in Episode III, shows up. Many of the Jedi who have brief cameos in the movies have extended appearances in the show, and a few make a brief appearance in The Clone Wars movie.

Star Wars has always been about its characters, and while the plethora of extended universe offerings — books, comics, video games — keep those characters alive, nothing can beat seeing them again on the screen.