Star Wars: The Clone Wars Posters
Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Animated Movie Coming August 15th
Call it Star Wars burnout, call it concern over the clunky character design, call it "three times bitten, four times shy." Whatever it is, those Star Wars: The Clone Wars posters, that the good folks at Latino Review recently scored, just aren't doing it.
Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Produce Star Wars Animated Film
The first poster has a cold blue feel for that stuck-in-outer-space vibe. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are charging the camera, lightsabers flailing while a trio of clone troopers provides covering fire. Obi-Wan is wearing a clone trooper outfit while Anakin is decked out in basic black (cause, you know, he goes over to the Dark Side and becomes evil. You did know that, right? Oh, crap. Sorry for the spoiler).
A fourth clone trooper helmet stands in for Darth Vader's helmet in the background (yes, Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader . . . eventually). Yes, the clone troopers eventually turn against the Jedi in 2005's Revenge of the Sith, but couldn't they have put Chancellor Palpatine's brooding profile up there instead, or even Count Dooku (a name that still inspires fits of giggling) glaring at the viewer?
The biggest concern is (as mentioned before), the character designs look clunky. The faces are angular, and not terribly expressive. Anakin's facial design looks like it was taken from the 1960's puppet show Thunderbirds. It also doesn't help that Obi-Wan Kenobi is sporting a pretty rock-like combover (very different from his center part in 2002's Attack of the Clones), and his beard looks like it could break walls.
If the artists over at Imagi Animation could render realistic-looking hair on a $35 million budget for TMNT, how come Lucasfilm - with all the resources at ILM at its command, and the billions of dollars Star Wars has made for the company - can't do a decent face, hair and beard for Obi-Wan?
The second poster is an attempted homage to Drew Struzan's one-sheets for Episodes 1 - 3. This time, a creepy-looking Obi-Wan takes center stage, with Anakin hanging off his left shoulder, and a much smaller Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's Paduwan apprentice, standing in front of his right. Once again, the clone troopers wave their guns, and some Y-Wing Fighters shoot out on the bottom right. Ironically, Ahsoka's look is the most successful of the 3 humanoids in the poster.
Will Star Wars: The Clone Wars Bring the Suck?
It's becoming increasingly difficult to give Lucasfilm and Warner Bros. the benefit of the doubt with this flick. Star Wars fanboys (and girls) may disagree, but Episodes 1 - 3 were significant disappointments when compared to George Lucas' 1977 - 1983 output. The effects were more spectacular, but the heart was gone from the series. Given Lucas' recent artistic decisions (dumping Frank Darabont's reputedly golden script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), the outlook for Star Wars: The Clone Wars is looking grim.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars comes to theatres on August 15th.
