Lucas is capable of much worse.

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2005)

It's difficult to make this film and not disappoint someone. The expectations are just too high; after three decades, grown men are still wearing silly outfits and making odd sounds while waving their plastic light sabres outside cinemas. I don't fault Lucas for the criticism he's received, nor do I think that he should be chastised for not making the best science fiction film in history. Furthermore, if he wants to make some more money and have his characters sell stuff on TV, more power to him; if you don't like it, buy another brand. I could care less whether Vader ends up advertising for Playtex. My gripes lie elsewhere.
Somewhere along the way, the novelty wore off. Effects that should be better are now simply larger and digitized. The puppet Yoda from the 1980s looks better than the CG Yoda of today. Dialog between main characters went from campy to painfully corny -- Anakin never sounded more contrived.
Beyond the poor effects that almost universally look fake, and the dialog that at times borders on ridiculous, the real downfall in my opinion is that I wasn't convinced Anakin had compelling reasons to turn to the dark side. Since this is the whole point, my opinion of the movie dropped.
Another problem I had was that Lucas chose to side-step plot points by either covering them in the cartoon "Clone Wars" or deleting them from the story entirely. Again, it's his call, he made it; however, I don't have to like it...
On the bright side, it's a fun film with plenty of action and lots of things blow up.
I suspect lots of people that have waited for three decades might be wondering if it was wise to attend conventions and dress up like space creatures after all...