Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"R2-D2: Beneath the Dome" is a live action short film from 2001, so it has its 15th anniversary this year. The title already gives away that this one is also Star wars related and this is from the time when they made films 4-6 (actually 1-3 in chronology). It is all about the globally famous little robot in this documentary/mockumentary. It tells us about his early days as an "actor" and how he struggled with his career at some point before he returned to stardom finally. This was pretty funny on some occasions and you could see that the people in here sometimes had difficulties to hide their amusement. Samuel L. Jackson is of course once again the coolest guy on the planet posing as a friend to R2-D2 in here. And this little movie also takes us into the private life of the title character, namely his history with his parents (especially dad) and his tumultuous relationship with a hot young brunette. And there is a nice surprise for everybody at the end with her last comment, probably the biggest surprise for R2-D2 himself. The documentary entirely acts as if he was a real human being in here and the joke works for this runtime. It may have gotten a bit critical around the 30-minute mark, but for 20 minutes, it was pretty entertaining. 6 stars out of 10 and I am not a great Star Wars fan, so this should mean something. Huge fans of the franchise will probably love it even more.
lord_sauron
This documentary accurately and craftily tells the story of one of the most talented and sought-after actors in the business: R2-D2. He's so sought-after that he's simply not going to accept any roles except those offered by George Lucas, explaining why he's only in Star Wars productions.This documentary tells the story of a beautiful droid, from his early days in England to his daring bungee jump to his lost years in his beach house in Malibu. It not only tells the story of the famous droid we all know and love, but it also tells us what other people think of him. Richard Dreyfuss isn't on speaking terms with the actor, but others like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are great friends with R2.You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll laugh some more... well, you probably won't cry, actually, but you'll love this documentary from start to finish. Highly recommended. 10/10.P.S.: I agree with Mr. Jackson's suspicions voiced in the documentary that R2's accent may not be the real thing. I mean, listen carefully to his "bloops". They don't really sound like his so-called "British" accent, do they? No, sir, that's a definite sign that he may be faking it... as Mr. Jackson puts it, "Homeboy's probably from Detroit or something."
Jennifer Pennington
One of THE most funniest mock-umentaries I have EVER seen. I love how Carrie Fisher is in this, including Natalie Portman. It is very funny. I love how they make R2 look so damn stupid in this...but it's very funny! A must see for those R2 fans!
ooss19
A great short-featurette about R2-D2 and his struggles through life outside of Star Wars, what many people dont know is that this is actually a 3 part-documentary available on starwars.com and that the short 5-10 minute portion shown on Fox during the fall of 2001 is just the trailer for it. Any one who likes star wars or likes comedy and has seen star wars should go to starwars.com and see it. It has interviews from other movie figures and star wars actors such as Samuel L. Jackson and Natalie Portman.
AD
