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Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Metascore
35 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 30 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 30
  3. Negative: 12 out of 30
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  1. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    67
    It's not exactly thrilling, and it doesn't cover much new ground. But young audiences will lap it up like ice cream.
  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: James Dyer
    60
    An enjoyable escapade and a great introduction to the forthcoming series - just not the seventh Star Wars film fans were hoping for.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Tasha Robinson
    58
    With its simple-goal-driven plot, its wordy, cutscene-like interludes, and its stiffly modeled characters, it wouldn't even make for a particularly high-end videogame.
  4. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Michael Rechtshaffen
    50
    The largely uninspired Clone Wars feels landlocked. In the absence of any extensive innovation, the video game-ready results play more like a feature-length promo for the imminent TV series of the same name than a stand-alone event.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Linda Stasi
    50
    Lucas' films are like Cher's face. No matter how many times you rework the same material, it's never going to be new and fresh again. And so it is with his latest, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
  6. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    50
    The best that can be said about the movie is that it's harmless and mostly charmless. The Clone Wars is to Star Wars what karaoke is to pop music.
  7. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Hartlaub
    50
    Looks fantastic, but the film suffers from the TV-to-feature transition.
  8. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    Essentially an extended trailer for the 2008 Cartoon Network animated series.
  9. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Tom Russo
    50
    Once again, even reasonably committed fans will need a scorecard to keep track of who's fighting whom. What's the real target audience - i.e. kids - supposed to make of it all?
  10. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    50
    The Clone Wars is the last nail in a coffin that has been propped up ever since George Lucas sold his creative soul in the quest for a few more pieces of gold.
  11. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    50
    When George Lucas last pulled off an original idea for a feature film, Bill Clinton was still thought of by many voters as overweight and chaste.
  12. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    50
    Gets more cluttered and confused as it moves along.
  13. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Nathan Lee
    50
    As a mechanical thrill ride, The Clone Wars has an uncluttered look and furious pace that make it more or less as satisfying as its wildly overdesigned predecessors.
  14. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    50
    This isn't the Star Wars we've always known and at least sometimes loved.
  15. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: M. E. Russell
    42
    Unlike its predecessors, this one doesn't even try to aspire to myth. It aspires only to merchandising.
  16. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    42
    It might be impressive as a made-for-DVD production, but coming from producer George Lucas, it makes for a cheap excuse for a big-screen spectacle.
  17. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    40
    The Clone Wars is minor to the point of irrelevance, nothing more than a stylized direct-to-DVD shrug projected onto a big screen while Lucas launches two more TV series filling in prequel blanks better left empty.
  18. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Michael Ordona
    40
    Despite some absolutely gorgeous animation and adjusting expectations for what Clone Wars is meant to be, the Force is not strong with this one.
  19. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    38
    Basically just a 98-minute trailer for the autumn launch of a new series on the Cartoon Network.
  20. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    38
    Don't expect the seventh Star Wars film here. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is more like a long Saturday morning cartoon.
  21. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Jason Anderson
    38
    While the movie and the accompanying series are being pitched to a younger audience than most new Star Wars ventures, parents may be perturbed by the film's relentless violence.
  22. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    33
    The animated characters in "Clone Wars" are about as lively as the actors in the live-action movies, so I guess Lucas has achieved his goal of eliminating humans from his movies altogether.
  23. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Pete Vonder Haar
    30
    The whole thing feels like a continuation of Lucas' experiments to see how much sh-- his dwindling supporters will take before finally saying "enough" and moving on to adult pursuits.
  24. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joanne Kaufman
    30
    Clone Wars will appeal only to the most tolerant, galactically minded children and their parents.
  25. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    30
    Unfolds with all the entertainment value of watching somebody else play a video game.
  26. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    25
    At what point might animators be arrested for doing work so ugly it causes aesthetic blindness in millions of younglings?
  27. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    20
    The latest indignity.
  28. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Josh Rosenblatt
    20
    Story is entirely insignificant in The Clone Wars.
  29. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    20
    Without the grandiose narrative structure of the six live-action releases, this feels even more pointless, a mechanical attempt to milk the kids for every last dime.
  30. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    0
    George Lucas is turning into the enemy of fun.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.1 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 132 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 60
  3. Negative: 27 out of 60
  1. grandpajoe6191
    3
    "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is basically for the Star Wars fans and kiddies. If your not into it, this will NEVER appeal to you. Never....
  2. gm101
    10
    The problem is people are looking at this movie and expecting something like Episodes I-VI. It isn't. This was simply an hour and a half pilot for the only good show on Cartoon Network. And as a TV pilot, it was great. I'm sure that had this been released straight to TV rather than theaters, there would've been way less negativity.… Full Review »
  3. asylumspadez
    5
    It was ok for an animated film but it doesnt really establish much for the Star Wars franchise. Its more like an experiment that was a minor sucess. The entire film is really just a build up to the animated series, Thats it.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »