'Star Wars: Clone Wars' -- The Force is weak with this one

by Julie E. Washington

Thursday August 14, 2008, 6:00 AM

The "Star Wars" universe is reduced to an empty parade of creatures, spaceships and war machines in the disappointing animated adventure "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." It's George Lucas' latest milking of his galactic golden bovine. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" fills in the blanks between the second and third prequel movies that dealt with Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker's transformation into evil Darth Vader.

In "Clone Wars," Anakin Skywalker (voice of Northeast Ohio native Matt Lanter) is still a Jedi serving alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor). The Jedis and the clone army struggle to maintain order against Count Dooku's forces.

The Jedi need Jabba the Hutt as an ally, so Skywalker and his apprentice Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) are ordered to find Jabba's kidnapped son and return him home.

There are light-saber duels and huge battle scenes gloriously rendered in stylized animation. What's missing is any characterization, interesting revelations or sense of a larger mythos.

Ahsoka, a newcomer to the "Star Wars" movies, is a bright spot. She's spunky and even more reckless than Anakin. Another new movie character is the villain Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman).

There are welcome nods to the original trilogy, such as a visit to the desert planet Tatooine and glimpses of the droids C-3PO and R2-D2.

Not many of the prequels' cast and crew returned for this project. Lucas is executive producer; "Clone Wars" was directed by Dave Filoni ("Lilo and Stitch"). Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) and Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu) voiced their prequel characters.

"Star Wars" completists will want to feast their eyes on "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." For everyone else, it's a pretty tasteless meal.