Title: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Director: Dave Filoni
Writers: Henry Gilroy, Steven Melching, Scott Murphy, George Lucas
Starring: Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels
Rating: PG

I have to admit that I'm very forgiving when it comes to "Star Wars." I have a lot of tolerance for it. Seems like you can't throw a stone without hitting someone complaining about the prequels and to those complaints I always say, "Meh, I enjoyed the prequels." I recognize the flaws but those flaws don't ruin the fact that they are "Star Wars" movies.

I also enjoyed - maybe a little too much - the "Star Wars: Clone Wars" series of animated, 2D shorts that ran in 2003 and 2005. These short episodes were directed by Genndy Tartakovsky ("Dexter's Laboratory," "Samurai Jack" and "The Powerpuff Girls") and took much of the action and style of "Samurai Jack" - one of the finest animated shows ever - and supplanted the characters and settings from "Star Wars." It was a perfect match.

This theatrical release of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" - not to be confused with Tartakovsky's "Clone Wars" series - is planned to act as a pilot of sorts for a TV series to start later this year. The film, and the series to follow, takes the 2D designs from Tartakovsky's series and renders them in 3D with CGI resulting in a cartoon, stylized look. The events of the film are set between Episode II and Episode III but to be more specific they appear to be set after season one of Tartakovsky's series, during season two but before the season two finale - which leads directly into "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." This precarious chronological placement in the middle of existing "Star Wars" media is one of the biggest obstacles the film faces.

The young Ahsoka Tano becomes Anakin's padawan in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

Curiously, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" isn't really about the Clone Wars but rather it concerns itself with the kidnapping of Jabba the Hutt's infant son. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi lead the clone armies against the separatists until Anakin is called away to deal with the kidnapping. At the same time he is saddled with his first padawan: a young Togruta girl named Ahsoka Tano. While the Clone Wars act as a backdrop and motivation for the kidnapping - Jabba the Hutt controls hyperspace routes in the Outer Rim territories that could give either side in the war a tactical advantage - this film doesn't tell the story of winning the Clone Wars. Unfortunately "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" ends up being a buddy-cop-with-a-baby movie wrapped in Saturday morning fluff.

I don't want to condemn the movie in any way but it quickly became clear that the film just wasn't aimed at me. I count myself among the original Star Wars audience and when the prequels were released I could feel the need to stoop down and channel my younger self to stay inside their target zone. But with "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" I'm not even in the same generation as their target. It's not aimed at us; it's aimed at our kids.

I'll cite just a few examples to support this claim. Let's start with one of the main characters Ahsoka Tano. She may be an alien but she's every bit the sassy tween you'd expect to find on a Disney Channel show. She casually refers to Anakin Skywalker - her Jedi Master and soon-to-be scourge of the galaxy Darth Vader - as "Skyguy" more than once. She calls R2D2 "Artooey." She refers to Jabba's infant son as "Stinky." You see where this is headed? She has cute little nicknames for everyone. And cute little nicknames distributed by pre-teen girls aren't part of my "Star Wars" experience. I was able to parry the references to Anakin as "Annie" from the prequels, but "Skyguy" shot straight through my defenses.

HD Trailer for "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

The problem with this time period for storytelling is that the characters are locked into a frozen state of continuity. We know what happened before the film and we know what comes after the film. This puts the filmmaker's in an awkward position because they can't change the characters at all. All they can do is tell episodic stories that won't affect the characters in any real way, reveal any new information or jeopardize the existing continuity set by the films - although to be fair, Lucas is not exactly a stickler for continuity. The point is you're not going to find out anything new about Anakin or Obi-Wan and you know that any new characters that are introduced can't be that important. It's not like they're going to reveal that Ahsoka Tano grows up to be Boba Fett. The only interesting characters you can really play with here are the clone troopers and their given short shrift in this film.

As far as the production value, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is miles beyond anything else you're going to find on television aimed at kids. It is feature-film quality CGI although the animation and movement of the characters can be a little stiff at times. It's not as good as Pixar, but it works. The voice acting is all competent with Samuel L. Jackson doing a few lines for Mace Windu, Anthony Daniels returning as C-3PO and even the great Christopher Lee performing Count Dooku. Unfortunately the music by Kevin Kiner didn't quite work for me. Even when he builds off the classic "Star Wars" themes - which isn't frequent enough - it ends up sounding like a cover band. I wasn't expecting John Williams but I was looking forward to some music inspired by those arrangements.

It might have been a mistake putting this into theaters because people may be expecting a "Star Wars" theater experience, and this isn't that. There was nothing that I really loved about "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" but I still find it difficult to be hard on it. When I was enjoying the film it was because I was imagining my son watching it. And that may be all it offers to guys my age who consider "Star Wars" an important part of their childhood. I have a feeling our kids will love it. After all it has big battles, lightsaber fights and - perhaps to its detriment - doesn't get bogged down with a lot of story. It won't work on adults who'll find all the action somewhat hollow but they might be able to enjoy it through their children.

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