Movie version at the start of the Clone Wars TV series which begins to fill in the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The Clone Wars was mentioned in the very first Star Wars film and ever since I was a young child I had wondered what it would be like to see the Clone Wars and see what happened. This movie only acts as an introduction though and does not tell much at all of the story of the Clone Wars. In fact, it has more of a one off minor plot about the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hut being used to battle over outer rim territory shipping routes. Therefore the plot itself is more of a kids show bit of fun than an interesting or impactful addition to Star Wars lore. We do get some great stuff along the way though including some great lightsaber duels.

One problem for Clone Wars creators is the dialogue in Revenge of the Sith which suggests Anakin and Obi Wan have not clashed directly with Count Dooku or General Grievous during the years of the Clone Wars up to that point. It is actually rather silly that dialogue of that kind was put into that movie becuase after all the years we wondered about the Clone Wars, reducing it to a droid vs clone battle with only a couple of clashes between the Jedi and the lightsaber wielding, leading villains is an unnecessary and unwelcome suggestion. The Clone Wars movie and series does its best to not overtly discredit the dialogue in ROtS but it does not let itself be limited by it too much which I think is the right decision. I want to see clashes and lightsaber duels between cool villains and our Jedi heroes. Here we get great duels involving Dooku (actually voiced by the great Christopher Lee) and Assajj Ventress battling Anakin and/or Obi Wan and Anakin's new Padawan Ahsoka. They are the best bits of the movie.

We also get very enjoyable space battles and shootouts plus some nice appearances by Yoda, Mace Windu (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson himself) and Palpatine. Other aspects are largely child friendly, humorous fun involving Jabba the Hut, his baby son, his uncle Ziro and our droid heroes R2D2 and C3PO.

The kidnap plot and scenes with Jabba's baby are great for kids but not all that impressive for me. It is unexceptional, lightweight stuff but pleasant enough. The far more interesting aspects are the clashes of Jedi against the dark forces.

Ahsoka is a very good addition despite this very much feeling for young teen appeal. It works well for younger viewers and is interesting enough for adults to see a cool young female Jedi become a main character.

Overall this may not be a super strong Star Wars movie or as good as the best Clone Wars series episodes but it works as a fun early part of filling the gap between the movies and is a worthy addition, similar to The Phantom Menace in that it has some flaws but is good for younger viewers and has some very cool lightsaber battles for the grown ups.

My rating: 7/10.

Okay, so Star Wars is now officially a kid's movie. George Lucas' newest cash-in on the Star Wars saga is a wholly unnecessary cartoon which caters to a much younger audience, but one that will find the majority of the story entirely incomprehensible.

The Star Wars films made a sharp turn to the digital realm starting with the release of The Phantom Menace in 1999, and they now have made the full transition to being fully animated. And by the way, I noticed that The Clone Wars is being advertised as the "first" fully animated Star Wars film. If they go nuts with the sequels, I sure hope they get better!

The story takes place between Episode II and Episode III. The Republic is at war with the Separatists and its access to the Galactic Rim is being threatened. Complicating the problem is that diplomatic relationships are strained to the extreme because Jabba the Hutt's son (yes, he has a son now) has been kidnapped, and due to some carefully orchestrated misinformation, he suspects the Jedi.

Confused yet? Imagine how the kids feel! But it doesn't matter because everything else in the movie is there just for them. There's a cutesy little teenie bopper apprentice named Ashoka assigned to tag along with Anakin and learn all she can from him about the Jedi ways. Lending her voice to the character is Ashley Eckstein, who, get this, is probably best known as Muffy from "That's So Raven." What the hell is happening here? That's So Raven?!

I have no problem with child stars moving on from their kiddie roles and into more serious acting, but the problem is that Eckstein takes that step in The Clone Wars, but doesn't do anything different. Her character is like a little kid running around through a story that is attempting to be a Star Wars movie, but it can't because she keeps re-naming things and people (Skyguy??),and (barring the occasional bout of astonishing light saber moves and tricks with using 'The Force') generally behaving as if she's still acting in a show made for girls under age 10.

For example, most of her role in the movie is not as a Jedi apprentice, but a babysitter of Jabba's offspring, the "Huttlet," as he is affectionately called throughout the movie. A few years ago I saw a documentary about the history of the adult film industry, in which Ron Jeremy presented his hairy, pot-bellied self as proof that any guy in the world can get laid. Now, it seems that more recent evidence of this theory has come to light. Jabba the Hutt, in all his slithery, gelatinous glory, has managed to seduce himself a 'Hottie the Hutt' and partake in that great wonder of procreation. It's strange to consider that if 'Mama the Hutt' had been included in the movie, it probably would have made the entire film a complete joke. But not to let an opportunity to slip something asinine into the movie, Jabba refers to his beloved son (during a serious negotiation meeting) through a translator as his "little punkey muffin."

But fear not, the Huttlet is more than enough of a spectacle. He looks like a sperm the size and color of a watermelon with orange eyes and a mouth. Punkey muffin, indeed. And therein lies the problem with the entire movie. Everything in it is a stupid joke, like Lucas is just laughing at himself and the world he created. It's all just a story to him now and he's just goofing off. Here's a sample of dialogue between two of his idiot droids during a heated battle:

Droid #1: "Concentrate fire on sector 11374465!"

Droid #2: "Uh, 117,um, 3 uh ..what?"

Droid #1: "Just shoot right there!"

I had been under the impression that droids were manufactured and therefore programmed. Do you mean to tell me that they are equipped with vague understandings of their battle commands and shoddy short term memories? That's just poor planning!

But sadly, this interaction is representative of the rest of the movie. All serious story-telling is sacrificed for dumb laughs. Little effort is put into doing anything interesting with the animation, which isn't even very impressive, and the real Star Wars story is a distant backdrop to this goofy babysitting/kidnapping story about Jabba's babbling son.

Oh and one more thing. The final nail in the coffin of The Clone Wars is Jabba the Hutt's uncle who, judging mostly by his voice, can only be described as a gay black nightclub owner with phosphorescent blacklight tattoos all over his purple body. What the hell?!

I was unimpressed with The Phantom Menace when it was released almost ten years ago, but it was still a serious installment in the Star Wars series. The Clone Wars, on the other hand, never takes itself seriously, and is too obviously an advertisement for the television series and, possibly even more, the inevitable video game. Most of the battle sequences are so video game-like that my thumbs started twitching for want of a controller. Skip this one. Go see Tropic Thunder or Pineapple Express instead.

I really love this movie of Star Wars, I have to say I am very impressed with this movie.

The animation, the voice acting and the character development in the movie are incredible. We even get Christopher Lee, Samuel L Jackson and Matthew Wood which is another bonus.

Plus I never knew until that Jabba the Hutt had a son. I also found that scene funny when they rescued Rotta the Hutt and Anakin made Ashoka carry because she found him cute.