PLANNED as the opening episodes of an animated TV series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cert PG) now appears on the big screen apparently because producer George Lucas thought it had the quality to be shown in cinemas.
That seems a bit of wishful thinking, although it is clear that it is pitched at a pre-teen audience rather than the legion of Star Wars fans.
The animation is uneven to say the least and the story has none of the epic quality of the six movies in the saga, even the prequel trilogy. And the voice artists' impersonations of the stars (only Anthony Daniels, Christopher Lee and Samuel L Jackson in a mere cough and a spit signed up for this) underline its paucity.
It is also lumbered with a lot of expositional dialogue which actually sometimes comes in handy for those who don't know their Siths from their Droids.
The baby son of Jabba the Hutt has been kidnapped in a nefarious plot by Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress to frame the Jedi Knights and take the Hutts' support away from the Republic in favour of the Separatists.
Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are dispatched to save the day, with the help of a Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano, a feisty new addition to the roster of characters. The banter between her and Anakin injects a bit of humour into proceedings and to be fair once you get used to the strangely stilted animation there are some exciting battlefield action to savour, so all is not lost.
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