Ahsoka to Anakin: “There is so much more we can talk about out here. Like the sand.”

Set a little while after Episode II - Attack of the Clones, the Clone Wars are now in motion with the fight of the Republic against the Separatists. While on a mission of their own, Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Anakin that he is to take on a new Padawan, a young girl by the name of Ahsoka Tano. However, little does Anakin know that this Padawan will soon be his, as this film pretty much serves as the pilot to set up the rest of the show. Anyways, I guess the plot of this “movie” is that Jabba the Hutt’s son has been kidnapped in an evil scheme by the Separatists to get the Hutts to join their side, so Anakin and Ahsoka are sent on a mission to rescue him and to get Jabba to be the Republic’s ally instead.

By far, the thing that keeps this movie afloat the most is the dynamic between Anakin and Ahsoka. It’s definitely not as good as it is in the actual animated television show, but it’s a great start. I know Ahsoka gets a lot of flak for being annoying in the early years of The Clone Wars show, along with this movie, but I honestly don’t find her to be that way at all. I think especially the way that she banters with her new master, Anakin, is really enjoyable to watch. They really are a perfect Master and Padawan for each other, as their different, but also very similar personalities make them compelling.

There is also some pretty good action here, though, again, not as good as the show. The battles aren’t very deep or anything, as there really isn’t much depth or intrigue behind them, but they are entertaining nonetheless. It is definitely really cool to see the Clones interacting with one another, as well as the Jedi for the first time, since they weren’t really all that deep in the prequel trilogy. There are even a couple of surprisingly fun lightsaber duels thrown in there, and they honestly aren’t half bad, with some decent choreography and all of that.

As far as the mixed goes, as it is with the first season of the show in particular, the animation is honestly pretty bad. I really like the design of it all, that is, in concept, but the actual execution of it feels pretty cheap. The way the characters move, the somewhat empty-feeling environments, and the weird facial movements are proof of that. You can definitely tell that they were in the early stages of figuring this stuff out, and eventually, of course, they did.

But yeah, as you could probably have figured out by my sarcasm at the start of the review, this is simply not very good as a movie. It feels like a very drawn-out arc of the TV show, and not a very good one at that. To be perfectly honest, however, the movie works okay for the first half or so, but once you get further into it, it starts to feel a little random and disjointed at times, really giving off the sense that this was just a bunch of episodes combined into a feature-length film.

The main thing that drags the pacing down with the story is everything that involves Padmé and Ziro the Hutt, who is Jabba’s uncle (not sure why he needed to be a thing in the first place). Their involvement and pivotal roles in this movie’s story were without a doubt forced, as their presence never felt needed. Every time it cut back to them, I was taken out of the movie, and I think a lot of that has to do with their random inclusion later on in the film. Before I cap off this review, I can’t go without mentioning that Ziro the Hutt is kind of an annoying character as well, even in the show.

So really, at the end of the day, it’s by no means a terrible attempt at making a movie based on the show, but it really does come off as an overly long pilot and arc of the show. There are definitely plenty of good and entertaining moments, especially in the first half, don’t get me wrong, though. I just think this would have definitely worked better if it were split into episodes instead. If you were turned away from the show by either this review or the movie itself, definitely don’t let those feelings dictate whether you watch the show or not, because it is much better than this.