Tired. That's how I feel right now after the premiere. I'll start with the premiere details first then, the review.

So, we got there around 2 PM, when all the activities would start. It was at the Egyptian Theater (where The Empire Strikes Back premiered) and was run by an organization called American Cinematheque, which is basically an organization designed to commemorate the art of film. Since we bought our tickets online, we had to go in line to the box office to pick them up. Immediately, I saw Seth Green again (who I first met at Celebration 4) as well as Matt Senreich. The courtyard had a red carpet with many booths run by the sponsors of the event such as some hot dog company, LEGO, and lots of food stands as well as pictures with backdrops which were free. I cannot stress how much stuff was free, I literally hoarded myself with hot dogs, shaved ice,candy, photos. Plus, a bunch of guys from the 501st were in costume. At the red carpet, there was a bunch of press who was interviewing the stars that came in, such as VH1, FOX, etc. etc. The whole atmosphere was pretty awesome.

Plus, everyone got all kinds of collectible stuff such as the ticket itself, and a backpack filled with all kinds of free stuff. A lot of them were geared towards the kids , but whatever, that's why they invented Ebay .

I soon saw a lot of people from Lucasfilm and who were famous. I met up with Seth Green, Matt Senreich, Ahmed Best, Dave Filoni and others. (Funny Story: When I talked with Ahmed Best, I asked him to do a Jar Jar line, and he said something about that he couldnt do it under liability or something, he might be right, but personally I think he just didn't want to say it.) (Another story: While I was talking to Seth Green, me and my friend were telling him about when we met him at CIV, he said he remembered, but I know he didn't. haha. I was gonna ask him to say that "Cha-Ching!" line but there was a mob after him and I could barely ask him anything. Most likely, I will see him at some other geek event)

Soon after, George Lucas came. Bam. That hit everybody in the courtyard pretty hard. We all looked at him in the red carpet with Mellody Hobson (his girlfriend) while he pretty much talked to every single reporter there. Sad, because then it came round 4 and we had to file in the theater. I mean, the man himself, who I am a big fan of him and his work, was only a few feet from him and I physically couldn't go up to him. There was just a large group of people just standing next to the red carpet just looking at him and calling their friends saying "Dude, guess who I just saw?"

Then it was time to go in the theater. There were some booths set up with some Wii's so people could play the new game. And there was a table of popcorn (free) and soda (free). Then we filed into the (assigned) seating. Since we were fairly early to get our tickets, we sat in the third row, which proved to be detrimental later on. While we were sitting down, George sat in some rows behind me, and I kept looking behind me. Fun times. (not)

Then some guys from American Cinematheque introduced the event, and then some Lucasfilm guys gave out prizes by drawing the seat numbers. I remember one of them was a Anakin replica costume. Then Dave Filoni came up and introduced the whole thing. Sadly, George did not come up. (Later, I would talk with some people at the event, and some did not even notice George. Jedi skills right there.) Then the movie started. I'll get into that later.

After the movie, security basically kicked everyone out after 20 minutes. On the way out, I saw Janet Jackson walk by. Trippy. All the big stars like her, George and Seth Green had some secret exit so they wouldnt get mobbed on the way out, I guess. Sigh. If there was a disappointment today, it was that. The heightened security around them. I probably will never get a chance to meet George Lucas again. Ugh.

Some guys hung around after such as Matthew Wood and Dave Filoni, but were quick to leave as the theatre had another event after, which was some screening of a 60's movie with Christopher Lee. Which kinda shows the importance of this event. The premiere not even being the final event of the night. All The Clone Wars stuff was cleaned out and replaced with some skeleton hanging off the roof.

Overall, the premiere was good. Lots of stars came in, lots of good stuff I received. But, it started strong and kinda fizzled out. And I didn't get to meet George Lucas. That will haunt me forever. Unless I meet him later in life.

After the movie, everybody had to leave. While I was walking out, a bunch of noobs (I have to use this term you'll find out why) was waiting outside the gate with stuff to get signed, but nobody was going to come out of the main entrance. HA. It was that bad. They didn't get in so were hopefully trying to get some scraps of it. I had to laugh at them on the way out. I just had to. *chuckles*

I put pictures up on Flickr. I'll put them up later on Facebook as well.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwc1138/sets/72157606662262916/with/2751880503/
------------------------------------------------REVIEW-----------------------------------------

Now, I'm trying not to give away the major plot points and others, but there might be some minor stuff or some rumors I'm clarifying on in this review, so read it at your own risk. The last paragraph however will be spoiler-free and should tell you everything I thought about this movie.

It was pretty ok to say the least. If you don't know already the main premise is Rotta the Hutt being captured and both sides vying for Jabba's goodwill so they can use his routes. To say how the movie starts would be a spoiler unto itself, so I'll just say it is very, very different. I was holding my breath for a certain something, and never got it. But that's not bad. It's a good thing. that it's changing.

Like the Clone Wars microseries, this movie has heavy action, and its fun. Lots of fun. There's great explosions and deaths and funny gags. Perhaps it relies a bit too much on gags. More than the movies. The gags are like the ones in the movies before though. If you haven't seen the clip available on the site right now, go see it, but there's a part where the clones begin to charge and the first one comes up and says "Yeah!" only to be immediately shot. Funny stuff. Its stuff like that that keeps it light and fun.

The animation is really original. I read some reviews online already for some two-bit tech sites, which ridicules the animation. LFL Animation weren't going for good animation, but an original style. It is excellent, though Palpatine, I have to say looks bad. What he looks like on the site, is he looks like in the movie.

Although, there is great animation and stuff. The plot is another thing. The plot is cohesive, but when the credits roll, nothing has really happened. I'll say right now, no major characters die, nothing really changes, except for the fact that Anakin has Ahsoka now as his padawan, and the ending happens as you would imagine it would happen. You want to know the ending? Read the plot summary again and think how it should end. That's how it ends. To be fair, this is an introduction to a series, but I somewhat feel it needs the series to finally gain some credit.

I have another problem. Although they brought back Sam Jackson, Christopher Lee and Anthony Daniels, some of them have very limited roles. Count Dooku has lots of screen time and Christopher Lee is absolutely wonderful, so I have nothing to complain to there. But, Mace Windu has about 5 lines of dialogue and one scene where it is actually Mace. The rest of his scenes are through hologram. Actually I'm exaggerating, but he had very limited screen time. And I know Sam Jackson won't return for the series. Though, this is the movie and it should have him, but it just doesn't feel right when you don't you hear the bad mothaf'er a lot. Anthony Daniels is always welcome and C-3PO does play a slightly bigger role than Mace Windu. Really, in the movie, Windu talks with Palpatine, gives some orders through hologram, and then orders some troops through hologram. That's it! It kinda disturbs me. But then, I know I shouldn't complain.

The Anakin-Ahsoka relationship is what the whole movie revolves around. Rotta is just a MacGuffin. To put it bluntly, it's believable. It's great at some moments. They are kinda like a big brother-little sister relationship. Ahsoka is very witty and naive; perfect criteria for a sidekick. There's this one part where Anakin is kinda mad at her and she retorts wittily and he just can't get mad at her. I don't know how else to put it, but throughout the movie, she goes from being to an unwanted padawan to a close relationship between master and apprentice. It is pretty decent [the relationship].

The music. It's good and original and fits it well. But John Williams score is barely there. Not even where it should be (think about it).

The clones are now built on a lot more, with them giving witty remarks or doing cool stuff. Even the droids have personalities this time around, its responsible for a good percentage of the gags. See it and you'll find out. It's pretty funny.

Overall, this movie is decent. It does its job as serving as an intro to the series and its job as a standalone movie, but I think it does a better job as the former. The animation is great and original, something I have never seen before. The action is great and engrossing and by the last third of it, I was literally asking for a break. The music is original and fits well, but barely any John Williams. The plot is cohesive and does fairly in holding up the movie as if it was "stand alone". The Anakin-Ahsoka dynamic works well and the clones have a better role, but, this leads to decreased roles in other important characters in the movie. Really, this movie could use another half hour in running time (it comes in at 98 min.), it would totally strengthen the movie and make it better. Once you accept this movie for what it is and get rid of your preconceived notions, you will like this movie.

But hell, you were going to watch it anyways what does it matter what I think?

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For me, I think I need to see it again in theaters to fully appreciate it. Remember to stay for after the credits, its worth it. If the Stooge is reading this, I would like to know what he thinks of this movie and how he got to see it.