Customer Rating:  
Summary: Back to the Future
Comment: The August 2008 release is set between Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It is a stand-alone story and - crucially - was designed as an introduction to a weekly animated TV series of the same name.
The animation-style has the look of Japanese anime and manga, while giving a nod to the supermarionation of the classic British 1960s series, Thunderbirds. The fight scenes are visually stunning in this presentation, though the dialogue to push the story forward often suffers from being quite stilted.
What makes for a successful TV series does not necessarily translate to the large screen (the reverse is also true). While obviously aimed at younger audiences and as a marketing tool, it does not set the foundation to propel this Star Wars universe concept into a remarkable movie franchise.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Far, FAR away from great
Comment: I'm a Star Wars fan; which is to say I'm a fan of the original franchise before Lucas sold out and began making the films for merchandising rights and placed profit before storytelling. This is one more example, but I'll be more objective and base this review on content not bias.
In terms of the timeline, this takes place between episodes 2 & 3, but it undermines the Cartoon Networks animated Clone Wars cartoon (which was very well done). In the cartoon, Anakin is still a padawan but eventually becomes a Jedi and the timeline leads up literally to the opening scenes of episode 3. So where does this fit in? It doesn't.
In terms of characters, Anakins padawan is introduced. What padawan? Good question. There's never been a reference to Anakin ever having a padawan. Not in episode 3, not in the cartoon, not in the books. Nowhere. The character herself is an annoying, disrespectful, sophomoric twit. You can argue that Anakin was undisciplined, but Anakin didnt grow up in the Jedi Temple. She's the Jar Jar of the show. The only good thing is knowing that she must die before episode 3.
The animation is fine for TV, but it should never have been released in the theater, As a precursor to the series it works, aside from the fact that it never happened.
The best part of the movie/series are the clones themselves. This really shows them as people and individuals as opposed to the human robots we've come to see tham as. The entire movie and series would have worked better if it had been entirely from the point of view of the troopers, with the Jedi being secondary characters. That would have eliminated any undermining of the storyline, which is what Lucas ended up doing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It is what it is.....
Comment: OK. Let's face it. MOST people are downing The Clone Wars because it just doesn't live up to the rest of the Star Wars saga. In that respect, the public is 100% correct.
Now, let's take The Clone Wars for what it really is. It is merely a feature-length prelude to the kid-friendly animated TV series on Cartoon Network; nothing more, nothing less. Even George Lucas himself admitted in an interview that the Clone Wars feature film was pretty much "an afterthought" after he viewed the dailies from the actual TV show.
I, for one, felt that the animation was quite beautiful and pleasing to the eye as far as the backgrounds and layouts were concerned. Yes, the characters did appear to be too rigid and expressionless and everyone's hairstyles appeared to be molded from Play-Dough, but overall, the animation was quite nice; maybe not state-of-the-art, but still quite enjoyable.
Also, it is true that the plot was rather thin, but remember Lucas' target audience for this film and the TV series; kids and pre-teens. My five-year-old loved it and I enjoyed watching it with her. Compared to the actual movies, however, it does leave you kind of flat. Even Genndy Tartakovski's 2004 Clone Wars traditional animated series was vastly superior to this film, but you have to keep in mind the fact that the 2004 series was aimed at a more mature audience (teens and adults IMHO).
Will I watch the series on Cartoon Network? If I'm home and there's nothing else on or nothing else better to do, sure. If not, oh well, no big loss. I won't make it a point to tune in.
So, take this film for what it is; a kid-friendly chapter in the Star Wars prequel saga; just don't expect to experience that same thing that the films offered and you will enjoy it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Two and half stars in a Galaxy Far Far Away
Comment: Star Wars Clone Wars is the pre-emptive effort to do two things;
Capitalize on Star Wars a movie franchise and to send out a major introduction to the Star Wars animated series on Cartoon Network.
Clone Wars relies on the fact that the audience who loved the latest trilogy will really like this version of Star Wars, and they probably do. It's full of action and light hearted jokes and some hip dialogue that only young people use. The movie starts strong, with a great action sequence with Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi defending a city from the droid army under Count Dooku. The plot extends to show Dookus plan to kidnap Jabba the Hutt's son in order to frame the Jedi and win favor for shipping routes in the outer rim.
As it moves on the movie keeps its pace and is entertaining, but somewhere in the middle they seemed to realize they forgot about Queen Amidala and new story line is born. This seems to drag the movie down and slow the pacing. Not that it's a bad story line but it's not integrated well and things kind of deteriorate. The animation is strange at first, it looks like the characters are all carved from wood, but you get used to it after a while and realize it's very good.
In all, it's a decent movie. There weren't any high expectations, it's Star Wars after all. I will say that in many respects as far as dialogue and acting go, it's quite surpasses the live movie trilogy. I think good old Uncle George (Lucas) doesn't realize that the die hard fans from the original trilogy aren't that interested in the Adventures of Anakin during the Clone Wars once we found out how he because Darth Vader.
This movie is good rental and a decent venture in an official Star Wars movie that WASN'T directed by Uncle George, who seems to have lost touch with the original audience of his success. I can only hope that he will let more young directors take the helm and writing duties for future projects. There is a lot of talent out there who adore the original trilogy and the basics of the new stories that could breath serious life into the franchise.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than I thought it would be
Comment: So, I saw this originally in the theater. I mean, it's Star Wars, you have to experience Star Wars in the theater. I can now say I've seen every movie in said way (going back to '77). I went into it with no preconceived notions about it, only that it was a new Star Wars movie. I never saw a trailer or anything for this. It was something I started when the prequel came out. I wanted to know nothing about the movies before seeing them.
So, ok, this was just an excuse to make a movie. The plot is cellophane thin. I am actually all right with that. The action scenes SCREAM Star Wars, Anakin and the other main characters are fleshed out a little more, and it is all in all good fun. It is geared for a younger audience, but so were all the others.
Ahsoka is great. Even at her tender age, she is able to keep up with the likes of the Chosen One. Yes, there are certain characters that don't necessarily fit in with what most of us see as the Star Wars universe (Rotta, Ziro) but it was necessary for what story line there is.
All in all, I enjoyed watching this and YES I do own this on DVD. I haven't been able to catch the series yet on Cartoon Network, but based on the movie (weak storyline and all), it has potential to expand, in a good way, the Star Wars Universe.
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