The Hunt for R2-D2, also known as LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2-D2 represents a short movie produced by M2Film. Its purpose was to commemorate the tenth anniversary of LEGO's licensing agreement with Star Wars. The film was initially shown on Cartoon Network on August 28, 2009 during the 9:00 ET (which is 8:00 CT). Subsequently, it was uploaded to both the official LEGO Star Wars website and the LEGO Club's YouTube channel.
Having been ejected from Anakin Skywalker's starfighter, R2-D2 wanders across the desert planet upon which he crash-landed. Eventually, the droid stumbles upon an oasis. Simultaneously, Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano depart from Coruscant, utilizing a Y-wing and a Jedi starfighter respectively. The pair then arrive at an asteroid field, where a space slug attempts to devour Skywalker. Instead, the slug misses Skywalker's craft, and its jaws clamp down on an asteroid. Tano proceeds to dislodge the asteroid from the space slug's mouth by firing at it. Meanwhile, back on Tatooine, R2-D2 is enjoying the oasis. Suddenly, three Jawas approach stealthily, incapacitate Artoo with their ion blasters, and transport him to their sandcrawler.
The search for Artoo continues elsewhere. The elite clone troopers unit, led by Commander Cody and Captain Rex, are searching on a snow planet. Following the directions provided by a droid tracking device, Cody and Rex discover a large group of Separatist battle droids. Cody and Rex slide across the frozen surface and crash the top of the droid finder into the droid army. The finder's top part collides with the droids, briefly disabling an AT-AT until the entire army is defeated. Cody and Rex subsequently construct an attack shuttle using the wreckage.
The hunt for Artoo advances as the Jawas conduct a sale at their sandcrawler. R2-D2 is among the droids for sale and attracts the attention of General Grievous. Grievous brings Artoo to his base, but the droid manages to escape and sends out a distress signal before concealing himself in a closet. Aboard the Twilight, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano pick up the signal. The Twilight then enters hyperspace, accompanied by the attack shuttle, a V-19, and an ARC-170.
In the meantime, Artoo discovers that a pink astromech droid named R2-KT is already in the closet, just as Grievous finds Artoo's hiding spot. Skywalker's forces arrive at the base and advance towards the Separatist ship. Droid starfighters attempt to intercept them, but the ships of the Republic break through. Skywalker and Tano land in a hangar and engage in combat with the battle droids. Elsewhere, Cody and Rex rush down a different hallway. Simultaneously, Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress, and Grievous observe as a machine is lowered to extract Artoo's secret information. Skywalker and Tano arrive and destroy both the machine and the battle droid that is restraining Artoo. Dooku, Ventress, and Grievous activate their lightsabers just as Cody and Rex appear with the Jedi.
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda make an entrance, and Kenobi activates his lightsaber. However, Yoda employs the Force to create a hole in the floor beneath the Separatists, causing them to fall into space. Yoda then uses the Force to assemble a CR90 corvette from nearby parts. Everyone boards the starship, and the Separatist ship explodes after they evacuate. Once aboard the corvette, Kenobi instructs R2-D2 to activate his holoprojector. After initially projecting a hologram of a ship, Artoo then displays the correct hologram: an advertisement for the grand opening of Skywalker World. He then distributes VIP all-access passes to Skywalker World to everyone.
The concluding scenes depict the characters enjoying themselves at Skywalker World. Skywalker and Tano each receive cotton candy. Kenobi and Yoda try out the "Force-O-Meter" game. Rex and Cody participate in a shooting game. Finally, Artoo enjoys a boat ride alongside R2-KT.
LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2-D2 initiates with a somewhat adapted version of the Battle of Bothawui, which was initially presented in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode titled "Downfall of a Droid," which originally aired on November 7, 2008. Nevertheless, the outcomes of "Downfall of a Droid" and LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2-D2 are entirely different.
Anakin Skywalker lands the Twilight in Hangar THX-1138. This is yet another reference to the movie THX 1138. Shortly after the Twilight lands, a TIE Advanced x1 starfighter captures Anakin's attention. During this brief moment, the shadow of Darth Vader is briefly visible behind him. Within Skywalker World, as R2-D2 embarks on a boat ride with the pink astromech, two X-wings can be observed creating a heart-shaped smoke trail, and the entrance to the "Tunnel of Love" is shaped like Darth Vader's helmet. On Hoth, some clone troopers are seen constructing a snowman using Darth Vader's helmet. Additionally, while Anakin and Ahsoka are obtaining cotton candy, Princess Leia is the one selling it. Another famous character created by George Lucas, Indiana Jones, makes a cameo appearance at the Jawa "garage sale," removing C-3PO's head from a cardboard box.
The musical theme played during the film's opening is Kevin Kiner's rendition of the Star Wars theme from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
The short film was included as an extra on the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack of LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace.