The Clone Wars movie kicked off a new era in Star Wars storytelling. Here are five thoughts from rewatching the movie 12 years later
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a thrice-used name for Lucasfilm Animation, encompassing two television series and one computer-animated full-length film. The 2008 movie made $68.3 million at the box office and served as the kick off to six seasons (soon to be seven) of The Clone Wars show.
The television show is the best known, and is easily the most successful show in the history of Star Wars (although after just one season The Mandalorian has likely had the largest cultural impact). Star Wars fans were introduced to the style, voices and characters of the long-running series in the seventh Star Wars film to hit theaters.
The movie is set, unsurprisingly, during “The Clone Wars”, a three-year conflict taking place between Episodes II and III. The premise of the movie takes us through an intricate plot by Count Dooku and the Separatists to kidnap Jabba the Hutt’s son and frame The Republic for it.
The movie, as with the show, focuses on a regular cast of characters. Some of these we know from the movies — Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala, R2-D2, C-3PO, even Commander Cody — but introduces us to Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex and a host of clone troopers.
While this film does not have the same impact as the live-action films, it is still a key part of Star Wars lore and is well worth watching for fans of the franchise. Here are five thoughts on the film, highlighting key parts of the film and celebrating its place in galactic lore.
5. James Arnold Taylor is an awesome Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi, in contrast to his ill-fated Padawan, has had the blessing of being portrayed each time by excellent actors. Sir Alec Guinness played “old Ben Kenobi” with class and grace, and Ewan McGregor brought youthful zeal and heaps of sass to the character. Without taking anything away from either of those men, James Arnold Taylor is an excellent Obi-Wan as well.
The voice actor has played a number of characters across multiple mediums, including video games such as Ratchet & Clank and Final Fantasy, shows such as Johnny Test and even Fred Flinstone in a few commercials. Yet he has made himself a legend among Star Wars fans for become the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Clone Wars.
In the series, as in Episode II, Kenobi is a polished Jedi Knight often exasperated by the rash decisions of his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker. In The Clone Wars movie it appears Anakin has become a full-fledged Jedi Knight, and we see Obi-Wan seeking to provide guidance while letting Anakin find his footing.
The sighs, offhand comments and sarcastic quips are all delightful ways that Taylor brings this version of Kenobi to life. In The Clone Wars film Obi-Wan is fighting Asajj Ventress and fires a barrage of witty remarks and sarcastic quips as quickly as his lightsaber strikes. It’s quintessential Obi-Wan Kenobi and helps to cement our acceptance of this new voice of our beloved character. As the rest of the series will illustrate, Taylor is the cream of the crop for voice acting and for bringing us hours more of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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.
3. Screen time for villains
As just mentioned, The Clone Wars featured many beloved heroes from the Star Wars films. Just as importantly, it spends time displaying and explaining a number of incredible villains, from the purely evil to the conflicted gray adversaries.
Count Dooku (with Christopher Lee reprising the role) gets to be the puppet master behind the scenes, bringing a sinister plot to bear. Then when the plot begins to unravel he confronts Anakin Skywalker himself, with his sneering arrogance and polished swordplay on display. We see Jabba the Hutt, the droid armies, and briefly Darth Sidious as well.
We are also introduced to Asajj Ventress, Dooku’s apprentice. She first appeared in the Clone Wars microseries and gets center-stage in The Clone Wars movie and subsequent show. Her attire is menacing and unique, her paired lightsabers brilliant, her wicked confidence and flawed execution all parts of a great villain.
The Clone Wars movie also introduces a unique storytelling move that the show will utilize frequently, showing us the Separatist commanders behind the faceless droid armies. In the film we meet Whorm Loathsom, a Kerkodian representing the “Retail Caucus.” The movies introduce the most powerful members of the Separatist brain trust, such as Nute Gunray or Wat Tambor. In The Clone Wars we see lesser members who are important parts of the Separatist war machine.
Finally, we get to know Ziro the Hutt. This colorful character will become a recurring character, and shows up another side to the Hutts than we see from Jabba in the live-action films. He is zany, flamboyant and somewhat wimpy — very different than the villains we see leading the Separatists, but no less interesting. We also see how Jabba is a “big deal” and not simply a local crime boss, and how his own family is motivated to get him out of the way.
2. Themes and relationships are unpacked
More so than simply getting to spend more time with our favorite heroes, we get to see some important themes and relationships for the prequels unpacked. One of the great things the movie and subsequent show do is provide background to the galaxy-changing decisions made by Anakin Skywalker in Episode III.
In Episode II Anakin is unable to let go of his mother, his attachment to her providing the fertile soil for his descent into darkness. In Episode III we see Palpatine manipulate this even further, with Anakin’s attachment to his wife Padme Amidala the crux of his decision to pursue the dark side of the Force.
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In The Clone Wars we see his attachment issues from the start. Even with a Padawan learner he just met, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda understand that he may grow overly attached, with Yoda commenting it will not be training Ahsoka Tano but letting her go that could prove the most difficult for the Jedi Knight. Early in the first season we similarly see Anakin go to great lengths to rescue R2-D2.
His attachment to the people he loves is both commendable and unhealthy, and continually he is manipulated into situations where others suffer due to his inability to let go. He wants to ensure everyone around him is safe at all times. We love when he goes the extra mile to save someone he cares about, but we cringe when he makes a clearly wrong decision motivated by his desire to control and hang on.
Other themes spin out from Anakin as well. We see his reckless tendencies mellowed as he seeks to pass some amount of restraint on to his eager apprentice Ahsoka Tano. We see Obi-Wan Kenobi balance his role, no longer as Anakin’s day-to-day master but still trying to provide counsel to his friend and comrade.
We see Anakin’s relationship with Padme develop and exert influence on his decisions. We see Obi-Wan’s growing rapport with the Jedi Council as he becomes a major player in the Jedi Order. We also get to see Palpatine balancing the war on the point of his own knife, feeding the Separatists more information than they should have while leading Republic himself. Many of the background themes of Episode III are developed and highlighted here in The Clone Wars.
1. Great battle sequences
While Star Wars fans often wish the romantic bumbles of Attack of the Clones were skipped over, by the end of the film no one is complaining. The arena fight, the massive conflict on the planet’s surface, the lightsaber duels — the incredible extended battle scene is the highlight of the film.
We get that and more in The Clone Wars, which features multiple set pieces of clones vs droids. We see tactics, we see different kinds of droids and clone troopers, we see the effect a Jedi can have on the combat.
Speaking of Jedi, the increased lightsaber duels are magnetic. Obi-Wan Kenobi engaging the Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress is a fun bout that makes use of the setting to great effect. Later we see Anakin, once more on Tatooine, crossing blades with Count Dooku.
The movie and the show do a great job showing us a variety of battles, individual and on a massive scale. We get space combat, we get duels, we get tanks and troopers. We get commando teams, we get assassins and more. The expense of massive battles for a live action movie is made much more palatable for an animated production.
“The Clone Wars” describes a conflict, after all, and this movie does not disappoint. We get our favorite heroes facing off with despicable villains, with the backdrop of battles, of politics, of relationships, of everything we love about Star Wars. The Clone Wars is nothing special as a movie, but as a reintroduction to the world of Star Wars and the fight of the Jedi vs evil it’s a great vessel. If you haven’t seen it, or haven’t seen it in a while, it is worth a watch.
You can watch The Clone Wars movie on Disney+.