Star Wars: The Clone Wars (PG)

4:08pm Thursday 14th August 2008

Action/Sci-Fi/Drama. Featuring the voices of Samuel L Jackson, Christopher Lee, Matt Lanter, Ian Abercrombie, Anthony Daniels, Tom Kane, Ashley Drane, Matthew Wood

JUST when you thought George Lucas had milked his intergalactic cash cow dry with endless re-issues of the Star Wars saga on DVD, he executive produces a computer-animated adventure that slips neatly into the narrative divide between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Little more than a glossy teaser for a forthcoming television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars boasts lots of eye-popping action sequences including a terrific opening skirmish between the Jedi Knights and the Separatist droid army.

Shaky camerawork, viewing the showdown from the perspective of a clone trooper on the ground dodging enemy cannon fire, is a neat touch and subsequent battles are choreographed at breakneck speed.

However, since we already know the full narrative arc of Lucas's sprawling opus, there's no dramatic tension.

All of the central characters must survive the film unharmed.

When the Dark Jedi assassin Asajj Ventress (voiced by Nika Futterman) challenges Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor) to a duel to the death, the most excitement we can hope for is that one combatant might develop a nasty blister from gripping their light sabre too firmly.

The plot of The Clone Wars is absolute nonsense, revolving around the kidnapping of Jabba The Hutt's son, Rotta, known affectionately as 'Stinky'.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars overstretches a simple linear plot, which would fit snugly into a 30-minute TV episode, relying on technical wizardry to paper over the myriad cracks in the screenplay.

Fans of Lucas's gargantuan universe will no doubt thrill to every clash of light sabres but truthfully, there is nothing here that couldn't be accomplished just as well on the small screen.

3 stars