After watching and waiting for the movies for over a year, the final product does not disappoint.
The game itself is pretty straightforward. If you the tutorial, you'll be ready to start in no time. The only problem is that you don't initially get much control over your movies. You'll turn out a lot of mediocre silent mvoies while you focus on keeping your stars happy and managing their relationships. If you play long enough in the regular game mode, you'll be able to go further in the sandbox mode, where you'll be able to have more control over your scripts and movies, and experiment with various techniques. (Here's a hint, play through the scirpt and post-production tutorials too.)
The only complaint I have is that the movie-making is rather detail oriented, and you'll probably have to try a few times before you get your story told just right. And the kinds of movies you can make are somewhat limited by the genres and sets available. The online propshop may allieviate some of that, along with the inevitable expansion packs.
The best thing about the movies is that it puts the tools of media storytelling (machinima) in the hands of lots more people than had them before. And the added ability to export and upload your movies to share online makes it an even more powerful tool for taking storytelling to a new lever and spreading it further than ever before.
I'll definitely be looking forward to further expansion packs and updates for The Movies.