The Young Men's activity tonight was a trip to the Cinema, and, being a Young Men's activity they chose to see the new Clone Wars animation, the Star Wars spin-off. And as the group were short of a leader - lucky old me got to step in, and see it too.
Actually, before I went to see it I did check the review on Common Sense Media (an excellent review site if you really want to know about the film's content, and suitability for the audience). I have to say, the review wasn't that great, and made it sound really lame. After seeing it however, I didn't notice many of the criticisms, but do agree that some of the violence, albeit animated in a cartoon-esque style, is unsuitable for younger kids.
It started off in a rather hurried way, with none of the build-up you normally get with a Star Wars movie. I was a little disappointed by this, as I like to be warmed up into the action. As it was, it took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on. But once the movie was going and the plot became a little clearer I thought the story was fair - though a little childish. Think of this as the Monsters Inc. equivalent of Star Wars, only not so fluffy.
From a technical point of view I found the animation a little disappointing. It appeared to use a lot of Motion Capture to animate the characters, which has been used successfully in such movies as Monster House and The Polar Express. However in this case the captured movement didn't appear to be fine-tuned to a great degree, and movement looked unnatural and was much like the animation in the Bionicle movies.
Motion Capture for The Polar Express
Most importantly, J enjoyed it. And surely that is the main thing.
