Star Wars: The Clone Wars is essentially a big screen pilot for the Star Wars-themed cartoon series to premiere this fall on the Cartoon Network. And it feels like it. Its story is not complicated. If you wanted to divide it up into three individual episodes, you probably could. And visually, its style is much more along the lines of what you might find in late-night anime and weekend-long video game marathons than most full-length animated features of late.

In the Star Wars timeline, Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes place during the two to three years between Episode II and Episode III. Battles between Count Dooku's Separatists and the Republic's Jedi Knights continue as the Republic fights to restore peace to the galaxy. And when the movie opens, Anakin Skywalker and Ob-Wan Kenobi are right at the forefront of efforts to defeat the Separatist droid army.

Back in Galactic City, however, a plea for help has arrived from the crime lord Jabba the Hutt. His son has been kidnapped, and he has requested the Jedis' help in securing his return. If the Jedi can complete the mission, they stand to broker a treaty granting them safe passage through Hutt territory (an almost invaluable asset in the mostly Separatist dominated Outer Rim). If not, the Republic risks losing the territory to the Separatists and facing an even more difficult for peace.

Throughout the course of The Clone Wars' story, almost all the major Star Wars villains step into the limelight and establish the Separatist alliances that will create trouble for years to come. The missing years of Anakin's development between Episode II and III begin to fill in as he is forced to incorporate the function of teacher/mentor into his familiar role of fiercely independent and often reckless hero. And as the evil forces that must be fought reveal more of their true colors, so do the values that will eventually lead to their defeat.

Like I said, Star Wars: The Clone Wars feels more like a made-for-TV cartoon than the best in feature length animation. Its look is decidedly different, less fluid and more akin to the angular and jumpy look of video games. In fact, much of the movie is filled with action scenes that could easily be the product of a dozen or so talented gamers sitting right next to you in the theater. The dialogue and character/story development are thrown in between, not much more complex than pull-string lines that could easily fit inside its own characters' action-figure twins.

All in all, the movie, its story, and its look will primarily appeal to a decidedly younger audience. At the same time, in the character of Ziro the Hutt (Jabba's uncle) and a few scenes peppered throughout, the film hints that the series will throw in a few punches to keep its older audiences amused. And although its tales still won't rival the original trilogy, within the framework of the entire Star Wars' mythology, the missing time period that Star Wars: The Clone Wars introduces promises a story and a telling that will probably be of interest to most diehard Star Wars fans out there.

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