It may not be saying much to proclaim Clone Wars as the best thing from the prequel-era of Star Wars storytelling--1999 to 2014--but this show is worth recommending as a superior alternative to the live-action films, albeit a very fleeting one. This is much closer to what classic Star Wars was in the beginning, i.e. serialized action-adventure with a snappy pace and a bit of dry wit.
Clone Wars, with its very stylized 2D animation and wall-to-wall action, is a good compliment to the later and longer-running The Clone Wars. The latter employed a more high-tech 3D/CGI animation style and focused more on character-based, long-form storytelling. And it really grew into a fine show. But the simple-yet-sharp visuals of the 2D animation on this one are my personal preference between the two. Sure, this style isn't everyone's cup of tea, but anyone who calls it "old-fashioned" is missing the point. This show is just the good stuff, without getting over-complicated and unwieldy. Long on charm, short on pretense.
And the characters, especially, fare far better here than in the live-action prequel films. As someone else mentioned, this show proves that the Star Wars prequels could have been a lot better than they were. The basic ingredients were there, but the recipes was wrong. This is a good recipe.
