Listen, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this one. Some might argue that it's my duty as a writer to do so, but as far as I'm concerned, Lucas clearly didn't put very much effort into the making of this film, so why should I waste a lot of time talking about it.

Firstly, I don't hate George Lucas. He gave me one of the greatest gifts of my youth and that gift was Star Wars. There's no way I can hate this man. Sadly though, this hasn't been a very good summer for fans of Lucasfilm. I know folks are divided when it comes to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and while I certainly don't hate that film, it isn't what it should have or could have been. I'm sure Lucas' rebuttal to that comment would be that he didn't make the film for me. He made it for himself. Whatever! That's fine. I've accepted it and I've moved on. However, if he actually has the gaul to suggest that he made Star Wars: The Clone Wars for himself, then...well... then I'm positively speechless. And to call this a kid's movie would be to insult the intelligence of kids everywhere! Perhaps children who aren't familiar with the Star Wars mythology might be entertained, but seriously, how many kids do you know who aren't familiar with Star Wars?

This animated feature, which is nothing more than a pilot for a cartoon series –literally (it begins this fall), bridges the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Anakin Skywalker and his new Padawan Ahsoka Tano are ordered to find and rescue Jabba the Hutt's kidnapped son Stinky (no, I'm not kidding). It might have been titled Star Wars: Get Stinky!

Going in, my biggest concern was the idea that 20th Century Fox wasn't even distributing this movie. Star Wars and Fox have always gone hand in hand for me. I thought it weird that Warner Brothers would be handling releasing duties. Upon exiting the theater, that was the farthest thing from my mind. This film has far bigger problems!

The animation is awful. I can only hope that no one will confuse this dreck with Genndy Tartakovsky's beautiful series from 2003-2005. Those shorts were stunning. There's no sense of joy here and the characters are positively lifeless. Everything is robotic in nature. The score is painful. Kevin Kiner's bombastic, intrusive composition virtually destroys everything we hold dear about John Williams' masterful music. But then, I can't say that I blame Williams for not signing on. And in fact, I applaud him for passing on the project.

The action scenes in Star Wars: The Clone Wars are somewhat lively and the sound effects and familiar landscapes evoke a bit of that old Star Wars magic, but in the context of this wildly awful film, they amount to nothing. There have been mis-steps in George Lucas' iconic mythology before, but even the Ewok TV movies had their charms. What's more, they knew where they belonged – ON TV! I can only hope that a flurry of great writing will elevate the upcoming Clone Wars TV series to tolerable status. As for this forgettable film, I'd much rather sit through the Star Wars Holiday special again. As for George Lucas, I'll always be appreciative for the cinematic magic that is the original Star Wars trilogy, but enough is enough already! If you have to keep milking your own franchise, give us those 3-D upgrades you've been talking about. If the Clone Wars is the future, I'll keep living in the past thank you.