Better than Episode I, but not without flaws.

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2002)

This penultimate chapter in the Star Wars hexology is better than the last, but not flawless. With all the kids grown up and Jar Jar off to the side (though important to the progression of the story) Lucas has taken the cutsey feeling that TPM had.
The story (no spoilers): Well, people are getting all antsy about something and factions are leaving left-n-right. The Jedi council is starting to get overwhelmed. Meanwhile, Kanobe is training young Anakin to be a Jedi. Anakin is now like a grown up punk who whines and bitches alot. Queen Amidala is now a Senator. It becomes a double story of protecting the senator (Anakin's job) and finding out what's going on (Kanobe's job).
The good: 1) Yoda: Trust me, you'll know *exaclty* what I mean when you see this. 2) Ewan McGregor: Lots of action and a touch of humor, Kanobe is older but perhaps still needed more training as a Jedi. McGregor delivers the funny quips with good timing. IMO, his acting shines, though perhaps it's because he had the best lines. 3) Last 30 minutes. Finally, action! 4) No Jar-Jar. As I said above, he plays a central role in one scene, but other than that, is out of the picture. Good. Meesa couldn't take another movie him as a leading character. 5) Jango Fett: Bobba Fett's dad. Guy kicks ass. 6) Yoda: Yes, it's worth mentioning twice. 7) No mention of metachlorines (or whatever): In my opinion, the metachlorine thing was the *worst* thing Lucas could have done. The mysterious force is now just a bunch of germs. 8) Great aliens. Lucas knows how to paint a picture.

The bad: 1) Dialogue: Anakin uses a line on Padme that wouldn't work in a sleazy bar filled with women who haven't seen a man in years. Worked for Padme. Maybe he was using the force all along... Samuel Jackson delivers his lines without any emotion. Maybe that's what he was told to do, but it just seemed like he was reading his lines like someone who wanted to be somewhere else. 2) "Pod-racerish scenes": There's a couple of scenes where you just feel that Lucas put them in only to show the CGI prowess. Not nearly as bad as the dismal pod racing scene, but it grew tiresome, at least for me. 3) Long strip of non-action in the beginning. For a (long) while Anakin and Kanobe split. Two stories are then told, switching back and forth between them. In the first hour, there's only one action scene. Lotsa talking. 4) Lame story progression. Example: Kanobe is looking for a planet not in the star charts. He asks yoda (and a bunch of kids) for help. Yoda tells him to go to the place where the planet should be. Uh, duh? 5) Missed opportunity in Anakin's transition to the dark side. I can't say much, but it's the scene where he goes back to find his mother. So much could have been done to show Anakin's transition. Why Lucas didn't do this, I don't know.
It's better than Ep1, not as good as Ep4/5, and I'm not sure about Ep6. But it's worth seeing, it needs to be seen on the big screen, and it's worth seeing more than once.
7/10.
PS. Yoda rocks.