Star Wars: The Clone Wars proves that George Lucas has lost all traces of his great filmmaking magic. This once prolific director appears transformed into a used car salesman, one who spends his days mercilessly hawking the same jalopy audiences have been buying for over 30 years. That vehicle is, of course, the Star Wars franchise, and to continue with automotive terms, the latest model seems like a cinematic equivalent of the Edsel.

The Clone Wars takes place in between Star Wars entries Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. An intense conflict rages on between the separatist armies of the evil Count Dooku (voice of Christopher Lee) and the noble Galatic Republic, which counts on such Jedi Knights as Obi-Wan Kenobi (voice of James Arnold Taylor) and Anakin Skywalker (voice of Matt Lanter) as its defenders. But an event has occurred which may turn the tide of war in either side's favor. The son of crime lord Jabba the Hutt has been kidnapped, and in order to earn his vital support for the war effort, the Jedi agree to find him. Little do they know they're playing right into a plot deviously devised by Dooku to make them look like the culprits. As this drama unfolds, Anakin also has his hands full taking on Ahsoka Tano (voice of Ashley Eckstein), a spunky Jedi-in-training who just might have what it takes to help strike back against Dooku's forces.

For a film whose parent series has become renowned for its innovative, cutting-edge, and dazzling special effects work, you'd think the makers of The Clone Wars would apply the same principles to the realm of animation. The harsh truth, however, is that The Clone Wars comes across as little more than a hastily-made means to cash in on the Star Wars name. In fact, it doesn't even resemble a product of Lucasfilm but looks more like some third-party company's own Star Wars ripoff. The animation is bottom-of-the-barrel, surpassed by the likes of Space Chimps, thanks to the sea of expressionless faces and the trapezoid look to all the characters' heads. As much as fans maligned the new trilogy, those films at least looked like quite a bit of effort was put into creating them. The Clone Wars, on the other hand, feels like the product of a few bored afternoons spent playing with Windows Movie Maker. 

In addition to being flat-out unpleasant to look at (aside from a few nice landscapes and robotic characters), the worst crime The Clone Wars commits involves serving next to no purpose in the Star Wars universe. All of the previous, live-action films had a little something to add to a much more grand and episodic saga at hand. But The Clone Wars comes up woefully short in the story department, doing absolutely nothing to enhance the Star Wars mythos. About 98% of the movie is taken up by action sequences, which are loud and colorful enough to keep the kiddies distracted. But because the Star Wars series has established itself as movies geared toward viewers from ages 8 to 80, those behind The Clone Wars must have decided to expand their target audience to include younger viewers, even at the cost of alienating the more hardcore fans. The problem is made worse by some painfully corny comic relief from Dooku's droid soldiers, as well as by the character of Ahsoka, who comes across more like an alien Bratz doll than a blooming Jedi warrior.

Still, is Star Wars: The Clone Wars a totaly bad film? Not necessarily, though it's a very disappointing one. When the action isn't repetitive and dull, it's actually  kind of fun, and while most of the live-action actors opted out of voicing their cartoon counterparts, it's great to hear vocal talents like Anthony Daniels and Samuel L. Jackson return to their roles in a Star Wars project. However, when you see Anakin hauling around a burping baby Hutt, you'll probably realize the Force is definitely not with The Clone Wars.

MY RATING: ** (out of ****)

(Released by Warner Bros. and rated "PG" for sci-fi action throughout, brief language and momentary smoking.)