Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is the movie that launched the highly rated series currently airing on Cartoon Network, and despite some flaws, it is worth a look. It is canonical "Star Wars," taking place between "Episode II: Attack Of The Clones" and "Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith," with 100 episodes set during the Clone Wars planned. The plot concerns Jabba the Hutt's son Rotta being kidnapped by Count Dooku and the Separtists; Jabba has contacted the Jedi to help rescue him. But Dooku has taken steps that will make it seem like the Jedi are the kidnappers.

In "The Clone Wars," we get to see a less brooding and angry Anakin Skywalker in action as a Jedi before his downfall led him to becoming Darth Vader. We are introduced to Jedi apprentice Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's padawan (and since we've never heard of her before this, it's most likely she'll meet her demise before the end of the series). And we get to see Obi-Wan as the grand general referred to in the movies but shown very little of. We also get to see more of everyone's favorite astro-mech droid R2-D2 and how our heroes would be in big trouble without him.

The movie was originally going to be the opening four episodes of the series, but when creator George Lucas saw the footage, he deemed it release-worth as a summer movie event, so the producers spliced the episodes together and added a little filler material to make its runtime acceptable for theaters. Unfortunately, the movie falls a little short, and life-long "Star Wars" fans may hurt a little (if they can come to terms with this fact).

This single-disc edition is light on extras, with just commentary by director Dave Filoni, producer Catherine Winder, writer Henry Gilroy and editor Jason W.A. Tucker. It's fun and informative, giving fans insight into what key items were planted to be used again further along in the series, as well as the Lucas additions (that don't always improve the mix); hardcore fans should upgrade to the feature-packed 2-disc edition. Even if "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" falls slightly flat as a standalone, it's a good start to an even better series, a mostly family-friendly, cross-generational night in front of the TV.