It's still a CGI

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 1999)

I remember vividly the final scenes of Return of the Jedi, when Admiral Ackbar announces 'It's a trap!' and we see the Rebel fleet coming about. The agile X-Wings and A-Wings rapidly breaking off in the shadow of the larger frigates and cruisers. I remember especially how the large MC80 cruiser turned, twisting on three axis albeit slowly, just as one, I guess, would expect a huge spaceship to turn. To me, this was part of the magic of Star Wars from beginning to end. There was a sense of real to it. A suspension of disbelief which said 'I am watching the stories of people I don't know but care about' instead of 'I am watching a film with many special effects'
Now story has been reduced to eye-candy. Attention to detail is now 'how many tricks can we pull' instead of 'can we pull of the tricks well' Frankly, I couldn't break away like I did in the other three movies. The Ewoks, for all we hate of them, were actually living creatures. Now we have Man meets 'A Bugs Life'. The spaceships look sterile and flat because they have an unbelievable perfection to them. The only scene which got my blood to boil were light saber duels.
I wanted to care about these characters, but I couldn't. Jar-Jar never shows a glimpse of intelligence or likability and Lucas repeats the same shtick with him every time he was SGI-instantiated. Which is often! I wanted to hate Darth Maul like I hated Darth Vader but with so few scenes and no lines when he actually does appear it doesn't work. Our first encounter with Darth Vader had him crushing a captive's throat with his bare hands. We knew by the end of his first scenes that he was evil, psychotic, intelligent and strong. The perfect villain. Darth Maul shows none of these characteristics .
And worst, I think, is how the plot relies on so many divine interventions to pull itself along. Even the final scenes of RotJ which involved the improbable sequences with the Ewoks, everyone acted with purpose. There was no, 'what does this button do?', no 'Maybe I'll bump into the answer?', no 'maybe a mysterious failure will help us?'. Sure Star Wars had plenty of luck, but not blind luck. I was frustrated by how many times a 'good thing just happened' which saved our characters.
Anything else I say would probably be spoilers. There are still moments of irresistible fun throughout and it was worth the $10 I paid. But unhappily, I don't think this Star Wars is anywhere near the caliber of its antecedents.