I was three years old when Star Wars came out. It was a childhood obsession. The toys, the early 80s sequels.

The prequels were like watching CSPAN. Apparently that wasn’t degrading enough to the original films, so Lucas went ahead and made a cartoon prequel.

It is getting universal bad reviews.

Entertainment Weekly gave it a F.

In a long, rambling review I suspect is as bad as the movie, Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool News says he hated it.

Ebert rolled his eyes at it:

“The familiar “Star Wars” logo and the pulse-pounding John Williams score now lift the curtain on a deadening film that cuts corners on its animation and slumbers through a plot that (a) makes us feel like we’ve seen it all before, and (b) makes us wish we hadn’t.”

Even my own Star Wars geek/popcorn-movie lover/guest blogger/indie filmmaker Glen Baisley hated it:

“The classic Star Wars opening theme – GONE!  Replaced by a modern version.  The classic opening crawl – GONE!  Replaced by narration. 

Dialogue – Dumbed down more than ever.  Plot – Think Phantom Menace on a micro-scale; boring and full of the Trade Federation garbage. 

I realize it’s a pilot for the forthcoming TV show but there’s nothing here to further the storyline of the movie series.  I didn’t expect much going into it but it was far worse than I imagined!  The look and feel of it is above TV movie quality but screamed direct to DVD.  Even my 9 year old nephew was left scratching his head.”

Now the question is — will the damn Star Wars fans continue to support Lucas’ madness?

The video games, sure, but audiences may have finally given up on the movies.

According to Nikke Finke’s Hollywood Deadline Daily, “Star Wars: Clone Wars” made $15.5 million this weekend. However, its take from Friday to Saturday fell 20 percent, which I guess means only the hardcore Star Wars fans . . .

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv_IvhpeP4I%5D

. . . took in the movie this weekend.