I enjoyed the film overall, though there were some hurdles I had to get over, one of which was that I had a splitting headache, so I was a bit more fidgety and had a harder time concentrating than usual. As I mentioned, this is the first time I've seen an animated version of characters that I know, and they were very stylized animated versions to boot, so even though I'd seen the trailers for the film, it took some getting used to the different look of the film and characters. There were a few times when shading seemed a bit odd, so Jabba the Hutt had these really weird looking blotches on him in some of the close-ups, but when they cut to a further back shot, he looked more normal again. The other thing to get used to was that characters which I knew and which I associated with particular actors were now being played by other people, voices I didn't know. The only people to reprise their roles were Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu and Christopher Lee as Count Dooku. Ben Kenobi was voiced by someone who had some semblance of a similar accent as Ewan McGregor, but the voices of Anakin and Padme were ones I didn't recognize at all.
I've read some criticism that the film is aimed towards younger kids, and I have to disagree with that. I'm not sure if that was because of the inclusion of Rotta, but I thought he was funny (Ahsoka has a great line about him being so sick that he's turning every shade of green than the one he's supposed to be.), and maybe people are likening him to the appearance of the Ewoks in Episode 6, but then, I've always liked the Ewoks anyway. I also think that the animation aspect, and more particularly the stylized animation, is going to turn a lot of people off.
This film is set in the time between Episode 2 and Episode 3. The Republic is in the midst of their fight with the Separatists, and Count Dooku is still running the show for the Separatists. Jabba the Hutt's infant son (apparently named Rotta) has been kidnapped, and both the Republic and the Separatists promise to rescue him, knowing that whomever is able to safely return Rotta will then be able to count the Hutt clan as an ally, and with the Hutts controlling the Outer Rim, each side needs their alliance to be able to move their ships freely in that area.
Ben and Anakin are pulled from a battle with the Separatists to go on this mission instead, Ben to try to negotiate an understanding with Jabba himself and Anakin to rescue the Huttlet (I love that term.). However, all is not as it appears as the kidnapping was actually engineered by Dooku, with the help of Jabba's uncle Ziro. Ziro hopes that with the death of the child, and hopefully the destruction of Jabba himself, he will then be able to ascend to leader of the Hutts. Dooku uses this as an opportunity to set up the Republic as being the kidnappers of Rotta, hoping that the Separatists' return of him will ensure Jabba joining the Separatists against the Republic.
Anakin's mission is made a little more difficult by the appearance of a padawan, Ahsoka Tano, who has been assigned to him by Master Yoda. Anakin had been against the idea of having a padawan, and Ahsoka is a bit idealistic and headstrong and naive, so the two have to learn to work together. The interaction and dialogue between the two of them was actually quite nice, especially since Anakin is given a padawan who's even more headstrong and reckless than he is. I also laughed at Ahsoka's objection to be referred to as a youngling and exasperatedly corrects people with "padawan".
The Republic forces eventually manage to thwart Dooku's troops, and Ahsoka is able to return Rotta to daddy Jabba, and Padme reveals Ziro's and Dooku's part in the kidnapping, thereby cementing Jabba's alliance (for now, at least) with the Republic.
In addition to Ahsoka, another new character (to the theatrical story anyway)introduced is Asajj Ventress, who works for Dooku and who had been assigned to guard and then return Rotta and if nothing else, to thwart the Republic's attempts to rescue him. She is skilled in using a lightsabre, and there's a really good battle sequence between her and Ben. I love her character.
I didn't much care for Ziro - what was up with his Southern/Texas accent?
I loved the battle droids - they had the best lines.
This site has a lot of information about Rotta aka "Stinky" as Ahsoka liked to refer to him. During the film, I leaned over and whispered to the husband that the Huttlet reminded me a lot of Baby from "Dinosaurs". Well, I'm apparently not the only one to have thought that, as the picture below was taken from the site I linked in this paragraph.
As you'd expect in any Star Wars film, there were some nifty new machines that I'd not seen before, on both sides of the fight.
The Republic had armored transports that could climb up the side of a mountain that were pretty cool. You can see them mid-climb in the picture below.
There was a new fighting droid in Dooku's forces which was odd because it looked like a soda can lying on its side with legs.
The spider droids were pretty cool too.
And I really liked the walker droid with the rotating head/turrets.
And of course, back in action were Destroyer Droids, or as Ahsoka referred to them, rolling balls of death. I loved that line.
Many people might not know who R2-KT is, so I don't know if people would have noticed her appearance in the film. We were pretty excited to see her, and we figured it had to be her - where else is there a pink R2? - but since she's never mentioned by name, we weren't sure. Well, here's an article that mentions how R2-KT came to be in the film. How cool is that?
I'd like to see this film again since I've now gotten over the non-Fox, animated, weird voices confusion that was distracting for me during the first viewing. The movie was a lot of fun, and it's great to be able to see "Star Wars" on the big screen again.
On a side note, we happened to wander into a KB Toys store before we saw the movie. I was wearing my Celebration IV t-shirt, and a clerk asked me if I'd seen the new movie yet. I told her I was going in about an hour, and she preceded to start trying to tell me what she thought of it. I quickly cut her off, so all I heard her say was that she thought it was just ok, but I didn't hear anything else she said before she finally stopped. Some people might think I was rude for cutting her off like that, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why people feel the need to tell me what they think about a movie, especially when I've not asked for their opinion, ESPECIALLY when I've just told them that I'm about to go see the film for myself. And worse than that, if you're going to tell me you really liked it, that's one thing, but WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU FEEL THE NEED TO TELL ME THAT THE FILM I'M ABOUT TO SEE, A FILM I'M OBVIOUSLY VERY INTERESTED IN SINCE I'M WEARING A FRICKIN' SHIRT ADVERTISING MY INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT, IS JUST OK?
Have I mentioned that I hate spoilers, and yes, I consider opinions to be spoilers too.
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The CGI animation grew on me quicker than I thought it would - I wasn't sure I liked it compared to the Cartoon Network series, but I think this style was the far better choice for the big screen, particularly in the battle sequences.
I liked the Anakin/Asohka relationship - and my 11-year-old daughter liked seeing a girl-kid-Jedi kicking some butt.
Ziro - I read somewhere that George wanted him to sound like Truman Capote, for what it's worth.
Given the hate flying around this movie from some fans, I was pleasantly surprised at how entertained I was by it.
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