"Beneath the Dome" has to be the silliest thing I've seen in a long while, but it's all in good fun. It's like a "Behind the Music" special for R2-D2, and as such it covers everything in Artoo's life from his troubled upbringing (in a human family), his big break with "Star Wars", fall from grace into self-destruction, and fiery rebirth when the prequels were being made. What's surprising is how many people they got to be in on the joke, and it wasn't just whomever they could cobble together from the "Episode II" set: Steven Spielberg, Francis Coppola, Richard Dreyfuss, even Carrie Fisher and Harrison, although Hamill's absence was a bummer). Artoo's fitness training in the gym was a highlight. It topples over into the absurd during his failed bungy stunt, but how else could this have ended? It's a great mockumentary and a good bit of fun.7/10

The true star of "Star Wars" gets his own film in the form of a cute and surprisingly well made mockumentary. The loose story focuses on the rise and fall of Reginald Dillingham (the apparent real name of R2-D2) and also goes into the honors and friends that he gathered on the journey.The cast is made up mostly of "Star Wars" veterans and has the unique distinction of bringing together most of the cast members from both trilogies. In addition, celebrities like Richard Dreyfuss and Francis Ford Copolla make appearances and show their comedic chops quite well.It's hard to pinpoint the best performance. Samuel L. Jackson is pretty good, coming off as being the kind of loyal friend you'd like by your side and Dreyfuss is very convincing as the bitter ex-friend of the droid. Even Christopher Lee scores points in a cameo role. If I had to choose, I would say Ben Burtt is certainly the most watchable. But perhaps the greatest asset is that this cute film has no slow spots at all and works well in its 20 minute run-time.Bottom-line? This ranks higher than the prequels and that's no joke!

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."

"R2-D2: Beneath the Dome" sounds like it could be really funny. Think of a blend of E! True Hollywood Story with A & E's Biography, and throw in the fact that it's a robotic character from "Star Wars" being profiled. Sounds interesting, right? Well, it must have been a lot more amusing on paper, because the final product didn't get one laugh at me. Not a single laugh. And I laugh at well-done comedy, whether the critics agree ("Ghostbusters", "Big") or not ("Houseguest", "Men at Work", Adam Sandler films).But this little mockumentary, unfortunately, doesn't work. It's as if everyone is trying to be funny, and unfortunately, in comedy intentionally trying to be funny rarely works outside of a stand-up comedy routine. Samuel L. Jackson talking about "Homeboy is probably from Detroit." Harty-har.Photoshopping R2 into posters for movies, parodied like "Greased" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Oily" is funny if you're in second grade. Watching this, I wanted to like it and I wanted to laugh, but the only ones I can imagine laughing at this are "Star Wars" nerds. That's an oversimplification and not a bash at anyone who enjoyed this little thing, but I'm a big "Star Wars" fan and, blah, this wasn't funny. Comedy is subjective, I know, my opinions are just that: opinions.Now, I don't mean to bash this as much as I am. It's just a little mockumentary on the web (although, for the record, editing the "Who's on First?" comedy routine with Jar-Jar and Yoda was a just little Web thing and that was hilarious). It's even good for a few smiles, when the people being interviewed aren't trying to be funny, and seem like they're telling serious anecdotes. The few smiles tend to come from Spielberg and Coppola, who are surely veterans of serious interviews about filmmakers, and their deadpan takes are amusing...not quite funny, but amusing. In general, though, the clips of R2 with his girlfriend or on the beach alone aren't particularly funny. It's a one-joke premise that would have worked had it just been a one-minute fake ad, but as a 15-minute or whatever documentary, it falls completely flat mostly because the parties involved are conscious they're trying to get you to laugh. Worth watching, sure. It's perfect in showing you that comedy is more difficult than it looks; I'm sure on paper, this sounded really funny.