Today is the offical opening day of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and already the reviews are pouring in.  Most are touting it up to kid-fare rather than the rollicking fun of the original movies or the epic saga of the prequels. This film follows Anakin on the downhill slope to Vader during the chaos of the Clone Wars. Variety says:

One could say that excluding them from the bigscreen “Star Wars” saga was the equivalent of writing the history of the United States and leaving out the Civil War. The omission, however, left Lucas and his cohorts with the opportunity to invent a virtually endless array of battles, which is what “Clone Wars” mostly consists of: a little exposition, an invasion; some more exposition, a light saber fight; a bit more blah-blah, a spaceship dogfight, and on and on.

Noticeably, Lucas decided to upgrade to 3d on this retelling of the Clone Wars rather return to the Samurai Jack feel of the traditionally animated ”Star Wars: Clone Wars” series of 2003.

Lucas & Co. here employ a computer-generated anime/manga style that results in somewhat more dramatic compositions and color schemes. But the movements, both of the characters and the compositions, look mechanical, and the mostly familiar characters have all the facial expressiveness of Easter Island statues.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars precedes the Cartoon Network show “Clone Wars” debuting on October 3rd.