Entertainment
18 Years Before He Took Over the Franchise, Dave Filoni Directed the Worst Star Wars Film
When Dave Filoni was announced to take over from Kathleen Kennedy as head of Lucasfilm, many would have felt that Star Wars was being given to the correct successor. After all, while Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett may not have captured the hearts and minds of many Star Wars fans, The Mandalorian reinvigorated excitement in the live-action side of the franchise, and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, along with Star Wars: Rebels, are still rightfully considered some of the best Star Wars content ever produced.
However, there was a time when Filoni was not the biggest name in Star Wars. Before 2008, few would have known Filoni for anything other than his involvement in the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and many would come to initially know him for directing the worst film in the Star Wars universe: Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The film and the show had the same name, meaning many would wipe the awful former from their memories, but that doesn’t change the fact that The Clone Wars film is not only poorly structured, but feels thoroughly underbaked in terms of both animation and characters.
‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Feels Like a Set of Disjointed Episodes
Star Wars: The Clone Wars film is meant to serve as the introduction to the series, yet the series’ non-linear structure snuck its way into the film, creating a disjointed, meandering plot. The Clone Wars film begins on Christophisis, where Anakin (Matt Lanter) and Obi-Wan (James Arnold Taylor) face a droid army as The Republic tries to gain a foothold in the Outer Rim. Facing dire circumstances, Anakin is sent a padawan in the form of Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein), and the trio defeats the army. This is where the story takes a sharp pivot in setting, goal, and tone. Jabba’s (Kevin Michael Richardson) son, Rotta (David Acord), is kidnapped, and the trio is sent to Tatooine to save the Huttlet and return him to his father to barter an alliance with the Hutts, confronting Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) along the way.
However, this pivot does not feel natural, and instead creates a jarring sensation where what feels like a war film on Christophisis, with several clones brutally dying in the pursuit of victory, becomes a silly adventure to find Rotta, who makes normal baby noises yet isn’t cute, but unnerving. From both Filoni’s comments on the Force-Cast: Clone Wars Roundtable podcast and how George Lucas talks about deciding to create a Clone Wars feature as “an afterthought” after seeing the first episodes on the big screen, it appears the Clone Wars film was originally going to be the first episodes of the series, but they were edited together. Considering the odd combination of settings and plots, this explains a lot, as many beats in the film feel like the beginning or end of a new episode, rather than a three-act structure, such as when the mission on Christophisis is completed, and the turn towards Tatooine begins.
‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Animation and Character Dynamics Are Amateurish at Times
When most think of The Clone Wars, their minds will drift to the beautiful animation that only a few TV shows can compare to, especially in Season 7, along with the lovable dynamic between the charismatic Anakin and wise-beyond-her-years Ahsoka. However, in the Clone Wars feature, the animation is incredibly clunky. While there are some great action scenes on Christophisis with the clone troopers, it is scenes when characters are merely talking that we are merely given mid-shots with no movement in the camera, such as when Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan discuss their plan on Christophisis or Obi-Wan’s meeting with Jabba, with characters moving far too smoothly compared to the more natural movement seen in later seasons.
Additionally, these stilted animations don’t help the lackluster character dynamics between Ahsoka and Anakin. Throughout the film, they bicker back and forth, with Anakin being at times nasty to Ahsoka and the young padawan feeling incredibly naive and arrogant, with lines such as “technically, I outrank you,” to Rex (Dee Bradley Baker), or “I’m the one with enthusiasm!” to Anakin over-emphasizing the fact that this is a child in a war. While this would become a key point of Ahsoka’s character and the commentary on war, in the Clone Wars feature, it merely feels like a jarring tone because she is overly naive, which led many to dislike her characterization at first, before Filoni would develop the character to act more maturely later on.
For many, including myself, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film is a part of their childhood, and there is nostalgia in watching the battle on Christophisis and Anakin’s confrontation with Dooku. But that doesn’t distract from the 18% Rotten Tomatoes score, which is thoroughly deserved considering the film’s flaws. However, there is also a lesson in patience here. While the Clone Wars film is truly awful, it spawned a show that would become iconic, making the initial growing pains of Filoni and Lucas’s brainchild more than worth it in the end.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
- Release Date
-
August 5, 2008
- Runtime
-
98 Minutes
- Writers
-
Scott Murphy, Steven Melching, Henry Gilroy