I spent the better part of 15 minutes the other day explaining to my 4-year-old daughter where the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars fits in the schema of the Star Wars Saga. It was a convoluted conversation about timelines, etc. that likely didn’t need to be had being that (a) she won’t likely remember it and (b) her only exposure to the other Star Wars stories so far has been in the form of watching me play Lego Star Wars on my PlayStation. But at least the latter may end up being rectified other the next few months through some trips to Blockbuster.
Anyway, I took her to see the latest installment at a nearby (very relative term – it was an hour away not counting time getting detoured and lost) drive-in theater. I went with a group of people who also brought kids and we managed to avoid constantly answering questions about what was happening by putting them on the roof with a boombox (they broadcast the audio over FM radio). The kids loved it and most of the adults seemed to enjoy it.
Going into it knowing that (a) this is geared towards a younger audience than the other movies and (b) this is potentially a pilot for a new TV series for kids, it was pretty well done. It was definitely less complicated than a typical Star Wars movie, but not overly simple and it is probably the only Star Wars movie in existence with a complete story (beginning, middle, and end – no back story needed and no strings left dangling for future continuation). So I would say that this was well done and if it draws a strong audience, I can see the TV show being worth watching as well. I was partially concerned going in that it might be too heavy and/or scary for my daughter, but she assured me afterwards that she enjoyed it and that she wouldn’t have any nightmares. So it has her stamp of approval as well.