The Critics are Idiots. The movie is quite satisfactory.

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 1999)

This movie had a very tough job -- meeting up with the hype and expectations of everyone. The film does a quite satisfactory job of being entertaining (that IS what it's about, you know) without any of the problems that could have occurred. The FX are part of the story, and woven into it smoothly, so they don't look like something tacked on or the basis for it in the first place. The story threads the fine line between being complex and being "too deep" (The events that must occur to describe the fall of a galactic government is not easy to squeeze into the 7 or so hours available for three movies -- this does not allow for tremendous depth). The characters are rich enough that you can fill in much of what needs to be filled in, and it's fun.
Find your local "poo-poo"ing critic, and help him get his head out of that tight spot it's managed to get stuck in....