...The Clone Wars movie! Hooray for original ideas! Okay, seriously, just like everybody else, I'm going to be giving my opinion on the newest Star Wars movie. I haven't had time to look back on very many of the other reviews for the film on this site (and I doubt I'll ever have time to read them all), but I'll try to get around to it soon. Anyways, about the movie...

(Minor spoilers for the movie below)

I went in expecting a better version of the Cartoon Network Clone Wars shows. I wasn't expecting the next installment in the Star Wars Saga, or something as well-written as the RotS novel, or anything remotely like that. I just went in expecting some good Star Wars fun. Luckily, I got exactly what I went in for.

In fact, I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, like most people, I hated the announcer in the beginning, but it didn't last all that long, though it was a poor first impression. Once again, I didn't go in expecting a real Star Wars experience, so I was hardly disappointed to hear a John Williams-less music score. The music was pretty good anyways. The animation itself was great, and just plain fun to watch. Although I disliked most of the battle droid humor in RotS, I loved it in Clone Wars. Would I want it to be in an actual Star Wars movie? Probably not. But the humor fit Clone Wars perfectly fine, and I found myself smiling more than once. I thought the ending seemed a little rushed, but I guess the TV shows can expand on that.

As for the characters, they were all voiced pretty well, and for a cartoon, the "acting" was pretty good too. I'll list most of the main characters below, along with my thoughts on their performance, and possibly some trivia facts that (I find) are interesting.

Anakin didn't really sound much like Hayden Christensen, but the guy who did his voice (Matt Lander) fit the role all right. After re-reading Anakin's troubled fall to the Dark Side in the RotS novel recently, it was nice to see him fighting the wars, slicing up battle droids, and generally being a good guy. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that he didn't purposely take on a Padawan- that just made no sense to me. The scenario they introduced was pretty humorous, I thought.

Obi-Wan (voiced by James Arnold Taylor) was near perfect. He actually did sound quite a bit like Ewan McGregor, and once again proved that Obi-Wan Kenobi is awesome. I especially enjoyed his "civilized" talk with the Seperatist leader... very Obi-Wan-ish. And as for some interesting facts, James Arnold Taylor also voiced Tidus from Final Fantasy X, Ratchet from the Ratchet & Clank series, Leonardo from TMNT, and various characters from Marvel video games.

Ahsoka turned out to be quite a good character, though I got a little annoying with the whole "Sky guy" thing... but then, she was trying to be annoying, so whatever. I wonder how the Master/Padwan deal will evolve. I guess she's eventually going to have to get killed off, though... sad.

Yoda was done very well, though his role wasn't too big. He looks pretty cool in the Clone Wars style, though... HUGE eyes. His voice actor (Tom Kane) also did Yoda in... like... every Star Wars game every created.

Count Dooku was done excellently in the movie, and his voice sounded a lot like Christopher Lee's. This is probably due to the fact that Christopher Lee voice acted him. The duel between him and Anakin was great, I thought, and it was also interesting to watch him interact with Jabba.

Mace Windu's appearance was disappointing. Sure, he was voiced by Samuel L. Jackson and all, but still, he never got to see any action. The old Clone Wars cartoon's best episode by far was the one that focused soley on Mace's ridiculously insane feats against an army of battle droids and a massive droid vehicle. It was stupid, but completely cool at the same time.

Asajj Ventress was pretty cool in Clone Wars. But did anybody actually say her first name? It always seemed like they just said "Ventress" the whole time. If so, that's really annoying. Now I'll NEVER know how to pronounce it. But here's another question: What happened to her in between the cartoon episode where she "died", and the Clone Wars movie? Was she seen by the Jedi in that space of time? If not, they hardly seemed surprised to see her. Also of note, Ventress' voice actress did voice work in Tales of Symphonia, Metal Gear Solid 4, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Halo 3.

The Clone Troopers were, of course, awesome as always. They got a large role and deserved it. I wish that Temuerua Morrison was called in for the voice work, but Dee Bradley Baker did a good job. He also did the voice of Gravemind from the Halo series, along with a bunch of other video games. I was dying for the clones to toss a thermal detonator or two, and finally they did. That's the rule of clone troopers: they must always be cool.

Padme was okay, but seemed to be stuck into the plot just to have her in the movie. I think they could've easily gone through the whole movie without having her, but she's a main character, so she pretty much has to be there. Cat Taber did a decent job with her voice, but she did better work as Mission Vao in KotOR. She's also going to be voice acting Princess Leia in TFU, which should be interesting.

C-3PO and R2-D2 were both all right, but neither one seemed quite like their usual selves. Was it just me, or did R2 sound... different? Oh well, probably just me. Overall, little complaints for the droids, especially since Anthony Daniels did 3PO's voice.

Palpatine.... isn't even worth mentioning. I really need to cut down the length of this ridiculously long blog...

The battle droids were the star of the show. Admit it. Most of the humor in the movie came from them (and certainly the best of it did). They were voiced by Matthew Wood, who, as you might already know, was the voice for General Grievous in RotS and was also Bib Fortuna back in RotJ. But back to battle droids... I'd also argue the had some of the most memorable quotes from the movie as well. You've just gotta love battle droids...
"You're out numbered."
"Out numbered? Wait a second... 1... 2... 3... 4..."

The Hutts. First off, Jabba. He was great... pretty much just like Jabba. His voice actor (Kevin Micheal Richardson) also did the voice for Tartarus from Halo 2. As for Jabba's son, he was quit interesting to see. A huttlet... stange. And for Ziro... I hate Ziro. She (or he, or it, or whatever) is by far my most unfavorite Star Wars character of all time. Wait, strike that. She's just plain my most unfavorite character of all time. Moving on.

Okay, that does it for the characters, finally. Holy cow, this blog post got really long... sigh. I have that problem, you know. I tend to ramble. Well, I'm about done anyways. In conlusion: The Clone Wars was just a lot of good Star Wars fun, and I can't wait for the DVD release. The action scenes were exciting and cool, and lightsaber duels were dynamic, and the whole thing was a very positive experience. As long as you don't take it too seriously, stop trying to be a critic, and just have some fun, Clone Wars delivers all the Star Wars thrills you could ask for.