Synopsis
A routine Jedi Academy field trip is turned into a rip-roaring comic adventure in LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace. Tour guide Master Yoda leads a group of rambunctious Jedi Younglings through Senate chambers when he senses a disturbance in the Force. Summoned to help save the Republic, he discovers that one of the Younglings secretly boarded his ship…and has a taste for adventure! Meanwhile, C-3PO and R2-D2 are put in charge of the boisterous group and find themselves in over their heads. As the evil Sith prepare to wreak havoc, it’s up to Yoda and the Droids to ensure that their young charges aren’t torn to bricks!
Star Wars: The Padawan Menace doesn’t take itself too seriously. In a world of Star Wars releases on Blu-ray, on Cartoon Network and pretty much every type of media in the known galaxy, this fun adventure stands out a bit. Written by Michael Price (The Simpsons), the show is a balance of humor and solid story progression. Price and company give you a taste of everything familiar in the SW universe, which includes a trip to Jabba’s Palace (it has a sign that looks very Vegas), a nice fight on Coruscant between Sith and Jedi , and appearances from Darth Vader (who is clearly lost) and the man himself, George Lucas. There are no dead spots, as the humor and action just keep on rolling until then end where we get a very nice surprise.
All of this is done with taste, grace and fun. You can just tell Price and producer Animal Logic had a blast putting this story together.
Is there anything that is not so great about this release? The only caveat, and the one thing my oldest daughter (who is a 9-year old) complained about was the 22-minute run time. If it wasn’t for the features, which we’ll get into below, I think there might have been some grave disappointment with this release. It’s as long as a regular television show, but it still feels very short. Credit the flow of the story for the short longevity, but don’t be surprised if your kids say, “That’s all?” It is short, but for the price tag ($13.00) it’s actually very reasonable.
Anyway, that was the only complaint.
The Blu-ray portion of this release is actually pretty good. For an 22-minute animated short, the quality is very top notch. There is little to no artifacts in the picture, no grain, not an ounce of color banding and the animation is very well done. There’s a lot to like about this small release in terms of quality. The audio, which is always a huge plus in Star Wars films, is very much intact as well. Coming in mastered at 5.1 DTS-HD, the music, sound effects and sound quality are extremely good. It’s what you would expect from a SW release.
As for the features, they just extend the life of the small main feature. You get the entire Star Wars series summed up via LEGOs in the span of four minutes total (two parts, 2-minutes a piece). You get shorts on the The Quest for R2-D2, The Clone Wars Animated Comics and Bombad Bounty. Each feature is good, though I would say I’m disappointed in the The Clone Wars Animated Comics, as it is not great visual quality. Still, there’s enough here to extend the life of the $13.00 release to nearly an hour. Plus, regardless of what you think, the kids in the household will be thrilled with this release. My kids watched this three times this past weekend, if that tells you anything.
