So much is lost in all the computer animation

Rating: 5/10 (2 July 2006)

If the original Star Wars trilogy were a real documentary, the new, mostly animated Star Wars trilogy is only an overdone non-fiction reenactment.
A few days before watching Revenge of the Sith, I watched Empire Strikes Back again. I have the VHS set with the interviews with George Lucas at the beginning of each tape. In that, he talks about how they came to the decision that Yoda would be a puppet. "When I'm writing this I have my imagination. If I were a novelist, I would just describe it." For the original movies, this limit was a blessing in disguise. In the new trilogy, with the advent of CGI, Lucas is free to overstimulate us as almost anything he can imagine finally can be draw into the screen.
So much is lost in all the computer animation. At times it looks realistic, but too much of the time, I realize it is an inverted Roger Rabbit movie, where there are only a handful of live-action characters.
Hurt most is Yoda. In Empire Strikes Back, Yoda is a realistic-looking puppet. The performance of Frank Oz and whoever operated the puppet is underrated. He is at first cute and funny, then an eerie, even frightening wise little green man. In Revenge of the Sith, he is a cartoon, like everything else, moving so perfect and smooth, stripped of believable expression. Note the scene after Anakin and Obiwan duel, we return to Yoda, where the shot pans around him in a half-circle to John Williams' score. This would be a powerful moment if Yoda were his original puppet self. Instead it is diluted by the reality that Yoda looks like a displaced creature from the latest Pixar cartoon.
The problem is, in Empire Strikes Back, I know Yoda is really there on set. He is plausible. In Revenge of the Sith, I know Yoda only exists on a computer. Particularly in the later scenes where he is with live-action McGregor and Jimmy Smits in the same shot, Yoda's unrealistic texture is especially distracting.
I think back to the special effects in Dr. Strangelove, where a model B-2 bomber is somewhat unconvincingly placed over the terrain of Russia. But that film came out in 1964 when that was the best they could do. How can it be, in this case, that I am more convinced by special effects done in 1980 than I am by those from 2005? I can understand that CGI would be necessary for something things. For example, I can't imagine how you'd have puppet Yoda use a lightsaber. I can understand Christopher Lee is an older guy probably not best fit for a big lightsaber choreography sequence, but then they push it too far, having CGI Dooku, among others, do amazing backflips which are strangely absent from the original trilogy.
I can't help but wonder if Lucas and the rest of CGI-happy Hollywood hopes for the day when animations alone will execute ALL of their characters' dry performances.
Imagine if production on Episode I had begun following the completion of Return of the Jedi. Technology would not allow Lucas to overindulge in computer graphics. There would actually be live-action sets, characters. They would be better films.
In these new making these new movies, Lucas has the curse of having to create many new characters who were not in the original movies. Some are as hard to accept as stepchildren. In Revenge of the Sith, we have General Grevious, who looks much like the other droids. Lucas dresses Grevious black cape so we know he is someone special. Grevious and Obiwan have a lightsaber fight for not much more reason than for the sake of having one. Grevious is a droid, not a jedi, but this is all cast aside as Grevious explains, "I've been trained in your jedi arts by Count Dooku," just he throws away his cape, revealing a gratuitous four lightsabers.
Beyond the new characters, there are other things distinctly different the original three. For example, Lucas can't help himself but play with the eye color of certain characters. Also, the original movies featured no children. All the knew episodes feature children, even the lead in Episode I is a kid. Also, Palpatine after Mace Windu (who we never do get to find out whether or not he recites Ezekiel 25:18 before he finishes off his enemies) makes him the wrinkled Emperor we all know, his make-up/CGI face is overdone and significantly different than he looks in Return of the Jedi. But it is in that scene where we get the first cool moment, as Palpatine gives Anakin his new name.
At times, the movie is a little heavy on dialogue, catering to the superfans. And that's fine. We know what the point of this movie is: to turn the most underwhelming character in the history of cinema into the all-time science fiction bad ass.
Watching Hayden Christensen try to do this character is painful. I'm trying to imagine others who tested for the part who didn't do as well as he did.
By far the best part of the movie is in the end. The unattainable prospect of seeing Obiwan finally spank Anakin is finally upon us. Obiwan appears behind Anakin in a well-placed shot and the atmosphere is there. They speak to each other, not about what they're about to do, but about the plot. Obiwan drops his robe and we know what we're going to see. Where the rest of the movie is a lot of chewy fat, this is the meat.