I don’t know about the worst movie in the Star Wars library since The Last Jedi was still kind of hard to stomach in some places, but yeah this one was instantly forgettable for a lot of reasons but not bound to go anywhere since it did feature one fan favorite that really came forward in a big way. Ahsoka Tano did manage to capture the hearts and minds of many people despite the fact that she was almost a throwaway character that wouldn’t have much if any impact on the story as a whole. Throughout her involvement in the Clone Wars series she was still something of a tagalong a lot of times, at least until she gained enough emotional depth upon coming back for another series. The final showdown between her and Vader in Rebels was well done, but in this movie she’s the annoying little Padawan that has skills without any doubt but is still the type of character you might gladly push to the back if only because she’s taking up space where she’s not fully appreciated yet. Thankfully that wasn’t the case considering that she went on to become a truly powerful and likable character.
In reality this movie would have been better as a TV feature or perhaps part of the actual Clone Wars series since it could have been developed a bit more and given some real feeling and impact that might have helped it out. Meg Dowell of Fansided has more to say about this. Creating it as its own feature was kind of a waste of time since when people think about Star Wars on the big screen they don’t generally think about an animated feature, they want to see live action since it’s been that way since the original trilogy. Plus I can’t help but agree that the animation is a bit stiff and looks like something a beginning graphic artist would do given a short time frame and a few ideas that they were allowed to build on. There wasn’t a whole lot to this movie since it took place mid-battle, introduced a Padawan into a combat zone, and then ended the battle on a note that made little sense if anyone is paying attention since it took two Jedi to take the enemy shield down, one to distract the leader, and the rest of the clone army was kind of bottled up until their commanders made something happen. Really, the Clone Wars were more about the Jedi versus whoever had an issue with them while the clones were used as cannon fodder when they needed extra bodies to take the hits.
Then there’s the baby Hutt. Yep, that was kind of a jump from one thing to another that was totally unrelated since apparently the Hutts controlled a section of space lanes that the Republic desperately needed in order to ferry their transports back and forth, and the Hutts are never that easy to deal with. But the baby Hutt angle is one that makes little sense considering the fact that anyone that’s watched the movies knows that Jabba the Hutt is pretty easy to manipulate when it comes to something he wants or needs. All the Sith had to do, really, was either tell Jabba that his son had been kidnapped by the Jedi and have done with it, or kill the kid and tell Jabba the Jedi did it. The Hutt wouldn’t have thought twice, he would have denied the Jedi and the Republic and sided with Dooku and the Separatists since really, Jabba’s whole angle is and always was doing what was best for him and his business. It’s true that one of his own betrayed him, a flashy Hutt named Zero, but Jabba is pure emotion at times and would have been more likely to take out his anger and frustration on the Jedi and the Republic just to prove a point, that he is more powerful than they understood.
Moving on though, the story went by too quick, the pacing was off, and the fact is that with a lot more development this movie could have been a lot better. In fact the shining gem throughout this whole movie didn’t appear until later when Ahsoka came back and was fully grown into a badass Force-user that no longer identified as a Jedi. The Clone Wars was a movie that deserved a little more consideration and a lot more development to shine, but would have still been better off releasing as part of the series rather than the individual movie that kicked it off. The series was actually pretty popular and treated the characters and the overall story in a way that was much improved from the movie. Still, it doesn’t feel like it was the worst, but it definitely wasn’t one of the best.
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