The New All Digital Star Wars -- Too Much?

The arrival of the new Star Wars film "Clone Wars" brings the franchise into a whole new light and dimension. The film, which is set between Episodes II and III, is entirely computer animated. The characters from Episode II are back, including Count Dooku, Mace Windu and of course Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Only a few of the characters really resemble their human counterparts. Drawn with a flair of anime, Anakin's brows are perpetually furrowed and that flip in his hair never seems to move no matter what crazy stunt he's engaged in. The real question here is:

Are Star Wars fans in for a treat or a dud?

As always, the story is written by George Lucas, however, the familiar strains of John William's Star Wars themes will be nowhere in sight, the composing being taken over by Kevin Kiner. A handful of actors from the films are back including Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, Christopher Lee as Count Dooku and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. Anakin played by Hayden Christensen and Obi-Wan Kenobi played by Ewan McGregor in the films, both have different actors taking over the voices.

The art of the film is beautiful and the technology that has always made Star Wars stand out is still there. The second trailer opens with the familiar black sky of the universe and a ship whose movements greatly resemble that of an octopus, jettisons itself gracefully across the stars, its tentacles pushing it along. It's not the backgrounds, the space ships or the general atmosphere that sets this film apart. We've seen it before. Virtually all of Episodes I, II and III used computer imaging to create all these things. The difference is that the characters have succumbed to the computer digital technology as well, instead of being played by real people.