The new Star Wars CG movie might be rubbish, but the original trilogy still rules!

Yesterday I reported that the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars film has been widely slated in the media, with a unanimous "thumbs down" from all the major film critics. No-one it seems, other than the producers, has anything positive to say about it. Oh dear!

At least the original trilogy of Star Wars films - Episodes IV, V and VI - is still considered to be one of the best film series ever. Phew!

It's always worth watching the three original films again even after all these years, and you can do that for free, in a rather unusual way, right here:

Watch the entire "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" movie as an animated GIF

Watch the entire "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back" movie as an animated GIF

Watch the entire "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" movie as an animated GIF

I guess you may possibly have already seen them because they have been around for a while now, but like the proper versions of the movies, they are certainly worth watching more than once - they're great fun and very clever, aren't they?

Here are some more great free Star Wars online goodies for you if you're interested:

Star Wars Animated GIF Movie Clips

Star Wars Movie Series Images and Music

The new "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" movie gets a big thumbs down!

Yesterday was a bit of bad day for me, given that I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter and Star Wars. First, there was the news that the release of the new Harry Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", which I have been looking forward to for ages, has been delayed from this November until July next year (see here). Oh dear.

Now it seems that the new Star Wars CGI movie, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which I have also been looking forward to for ages and which was released yesterday, is not very good at all, going by all the negative reviews I've read of it today. Oh dear, oh dear. There is an excellent article which sums it all up over on the MTV website, which you can read here if you wish.

Still, it's been a really great year for movies so far this year, notwithstanding the above. WALL-E is my favourite at the moment. If, like me, you like movies and games you'll find loads of movie related games, including a large WALL-E collection, on page 1 and page 2 of my Cartoons, Movies and TV Games website...

The "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" movie has been delayed

According to a story that has just appeared on Reuters, the release date of the sixth Harry Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", has been pushed back by production studio Warner Bros. from November this year - the new scheduled release date is now July 17, 2009. Oh no! I was so looking forward to seeing it this year!

Apparently, Warner Bros. said it had decided to make the change to bolster its release schedule for the lucrative summer moviegoing season - a period that can account for as much as 40 percent of Hollywood's annual box office receipts.

Warner Bros. President Alan Horn said the studio was also still feeling repercussions from the three-month Hollywood screenwriters strike that ended in February but which has "impacted the readiness of scripts for other films".

"We know the summer season is an ideal window for a family ... release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first instalment", Horn said.

The studio said the change of date would not alter production plans for the final, two-part Potter movie adventure, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". The release date for part one is tentatively set for November 2010.

"Deathly Hallows", the seventh and last story from British author J.K. Rowling about the boy wizard and his friends at Hogwarts School, was published in July 2007. The series has sold an estimated 400 million copies, and the books have been translated into more than 60 languages.

See my Harry Potter Movie Series Gallery and Harry Potter Book Series Gallery pages for more information - both pages also include some Harry Potter online games to play.