Star Wars

Two blogs in two days? It's been awhile since I did that, but why not?

Also, for those of you who are not fans of livejournal and prefer blogger, I'm starting to mirror my blog at jayiin.blogspot.com now that I finally have my issues wtihi blogger worked out. I still prefer LJ because I like the flist system and I'm comfortable here, having been here for so long. Blogger is less of a personal thing and more of a public thing, so any time I have a 'friends only' post it will be here.

On that note, JH - I know you're watching this blog now, and if you want access to the friends only stuff, talk to me and we'll figure out a way.

Tonight, I saw the new Star Wars: Clone Wars movie. I loved it; it was fun. I came away with no greater revelations about life, the universe and everything else. There was truth there, if you cared to pick it out, but I've been a fan of Star Wars for having bits of truth in it. *tongue firmly in cheek, for those who know what I'm talking about.*

That's it, really. The movie was fun. It was full of spacefights, lightsaber duels, snarky characters and opportune one-liners mixed with some decent CGI, enjoyable music that was a refreshing deviation from the normal Star Wars fare without being too far off what I expected, and some fun new characters. Exuberant displays of derring-do, half-baked plans, running gags, and connections to all six other Star Wars movies filled the moments were the order of the day.

The animation was a 3D version of the style used for the Clone Wars animated shorts - and frankly, that's what this was. A Star Wars cartoon movie. It was not a 'true' Star Wars movie like the two trilogies. It's a movie based on a cartoon series. Take it for more than that, you'll be disappointed. Go in for flash, bang and boom with a flair and flourish, you'll have fun. Expect a deep plot, new revelations, or a redemption of the prequels everyone hates on (which, I'm almost fond of) and you'll walk away, bitter and disappointed in what's really just for fun.

There was no plot, the storytelling was dictated purely by the action, and the only characters who got developed more than they did in the other six movies were Anakin and his erstwhile Padawan (who was pretty much the most entertaining Star Wars character ever - but she reminded me of a Buffy character, which explains why I'm endeared to her.) It's formuliac at best:

• Dooku/Sidious hatch nefarious plot to bring down the Republic/Jedi


• Anakin and Obi-Wan are the only ones who can save the day. (We're the only ship in the quadrant again?) But first, they need to be rescued themselves.


• Intro snarky teenage Padawan Obi-Wan and Yoda trick Anakin into having. Commence derring-do where Anakin and Padawan bond through snarky reparte and mutual life-saving.


• Obi-Wan and Anakin + snarky teenage female Padawan in skimpy outfit run off to save the day.


• More derring-do. Padawan in reckless. Baby Hutt burps green cloud.


• Anakin is a badass pilot. Obi-wan is a badass swordsman.


• More lightsaber fighting and amazing flying. Anakin is moody and has anger issues. Somehow, everything comes back to Tatooine. Again.


• Padme does something silly and Threepio saves her. There is a flaming gay Hutt with a southern accent. Palpatine is cunning and manipulative.


• Anakin fails to learn importan personal lesson and is reckless, almost costing the Good Guys the Big Win.


• Snarky Padawan saves the day at the last moment before horrific violence occurs.


• Heroic last denounment. Padme manages to steal the spotlight.

On the bright side, there is no horrible mushy dialogue, and we see Anakin as a leader and as a teacher. We see his troops trust and respect him, and we learn more about who he is, other than a whiny emokid.

Overall, it was fun.

Of course, the fact I liked it means it's probably a horrible movie.