LOS ANGELES - Call it a Jedi jones, a Force fixation, a Yoda yearning, a Clone compulsion. "Star Wars" fans are in a prequel-induced frenzy undiminished by some negative reviews and competition from the box-office smash "Spider-Man."
"Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" opens Thursday, the fifth film in the sci-fi series and the second follow-up to the original "Star Wars" trilogy. The first prequel, "The Phantom Menace," came out in 1999.

Advance-ticket sales have been brisk, but the movie comes on the heels of "Spider-Man," which grossed an estimated $223.6 million in a record-shattering 10 days. "Star Wars" creator George Lucas said he doesn't expect his movie's first weekend to match "Spider-Man's," but he does believe "Clones" will do well in the long run.

"It's not a contest," Lucas said. "It's an art form ... In the end, I think we'll do fine. And whether we beat 'Spider-Man' or not beat 'Spider-Man' is irrelevant."
While "Spider-Man" won generally favorable reviews, early reviews for "Clones" from top critics have been on the Dark Side.

The New York Times' A.O. Scott panned it as "a chance for gifted actors to be handsomely paid for delivering the worst line-readings of their careers." Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert ranked "Clones" as a two-star film whose characters talk so flatly "they seem more like lawyers than the heroes of a romantic fantasy." And The Associated Press' Christy Lemire said Lucas "still fails to recapture the fun and adventure that infused the original trilogy."