Rating: 1.5 Pulses

Rated PG

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Going into this film, I was channeling this exact feeling expressed by a handful of characters in the six-episode saga of Star Wars.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes place chronologically in between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and is designed as an introduction to its own animated series debuting on television this fall. This could have been a launching pad for a revolutionary animated series that would appeal to adults and kids alike using a well-established product, but Lucasfilm’s animation department took the middle road: combine the old school Saturday morning serial aura with the ADD-afflicted set pieces and lack of engaging interaction from “kiddy” cartoons.

Does this make The Clone Wars a horrible idea for a film? Not entirely. If you’re a parent, while you may not enjoy the film, your child more than likely will. Likewise, this movie might be entertaining to watch, just as any explosion-per-second animated series, if you can maintain the mindset of a six-year-old for an hour and a half.

What if you’re not a parent or six years old? Sadly, the lack of character development and stories so minor in consequence to the Star Wars mythos make it hard to care about anything going on. Essentially, the movie is niche marketing at its finest: make the kids happy and give adults fleeting moments of nostalgia using a butchered version of John Williams’ iconic score.

Obi-Wan Kenobi once remarked that “many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” It is important to take different points of view with films that are targeted more toward younger audiences, but that excuse is also a commentary on the fact that no Star Wars film ever had to do that and that.

As a middle-tier animation film, The Clone Wars is almost par for the course. As a Star Wars movie, it’s a few exotic environments, witty one-liners and nostalgic attachments away from being totally forgettable.