Executive Producer George Lucas adds nothing to his “Star Wars” cosmos and corpus with this CG-animated kids tale. Director Dave Filoni—and writers Henry Gilroy, Steven Melching and Scott Murphy—stick to the franchise’s fixtures: Galactic Republicans and Separatist scum, Jedi’s and Siths, mentors and apprentices, chancellors and assassins. New on the scene are “rolling death balls” and a 14-year-old Togrutan named Ahsoka Tano. This orange-creamsicle-faced knight-in-training is assigned by Master Yoda to Anakin Skywalker. Together they will free the kidnapped nephew of Jabba the Hut, and thwart intrigue by Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress and a treacherous Hut who purrs like Truman Capote. Victory means Galactic troops can access shipping routes in the Outer Rim to contain the insurgency. Mission Accomplished. The Long War. Following up a 2004-2005 Cartoon Network show about the Clone Wars period, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” fits into the six-film saga in between Episodes II and III. “A war, by nature, is a patchwork of untold stories,” says Lucas. “We know what happens to the galaxy, but we don’t know exactly how it all came to pass. These are the stories behind the story.” There’s a badly borrowed Buster Keaton bit, and the robo-critters on the sidelines get the best quips and squeaks. “Sky Guy,” as the cheeky “youngling” tags Skywalker, is colorless. With the voices of Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, Dee Bradley Baker, Tom Kane, Nika Futterman, Corey Burton, Kevin Michael Richardson, Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee. 100m. Anamorphic 2.40 widescreen. (Bill Stamets)
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