The Clone Wars

George Lucas made one of the greatest American movies, and it's all been downhill since then... That is too harsh, for every Jar Jar Binks, there's been an Obi Wan Kenobi, so I shouldn't complain. Last night the kids and I saw his new animated film "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". It shows once again that his strength is the visual representation of a vivid imagination, and his weakness is anything to do with human beings. Everything in this movie looked great and felt just like a "live action" Star Wars movie, except for the actors. Unfortunately this can be said about his last three "live action" movies as well. I enjoyed the action, the space battles, the locations and the light sabers. I winced whenever a line of dialogue was uttered, and I had a hard time figuring out how the digital representation of Natalie Portman could be so unhot, even creepy. There was a very sweet scene in which the Jedi along with the currently good Clone Troopers are scaling a cliff, literally fighting uphill as the Droid army attempts to hold them back. Just the idea of this battle was cool, and the filmmakers and artists did a great job of creating this sequence. It reminded me of the scene when Jabba is planning on executing Luke, Han and Chewie. It reminded me of the Battle for Hoth. It reminded me of Luke and Leia trying to escape from the Stormtroopers in "A New Hope". I like scenes that bring back good memories, so in that way "Clone Wars" was a fun way to continue the Star Wars experience.