Good movie all around

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2005)

Storyline: Even though it tied up some loose ends leading up to the original trilogy, a little too much was given away. However, out of the new trilogy, this was the best written one by far.
The one thing I've always appreciated about Star Wars was the moral lessons within the dialog. They speak of life values without being too preachy and aiming toward anything specific allowing people like myself to take back something of their own.
The excuse for Anakin to become part of the dark side wasn't convincing enough. I understand that he was in need of a solution to save Padme from dying while giving birth but still a true Jedi accepts death for what it is. Aankin just seemed smarter than most to be seduced that easily to the dark side. I guess Lucus needed some way to tie in the trilogy.
The ending was sad and the idea of death and being re-born (Padme dies, Darth Vadar (dark side) is re-born and Luke and Leigh are born into the galaxy. That was the best part of the movie.
Acting: The chemistry between Portman and Hayden left me cry. Perhaps it was the un-imaginative dialog between the two when expressing their love or the fact that their bad actors but I wasn't convinced that there was something there. I didn't believe that Anakin really loved Padme and that everything he did, or tried to do was for her. The romantic stuff I could do without. In the original Trilogy, Leigh and Han had chemistry.
Natalie Portman's acting was as dry as toast. I can't entirely blame Natalie Portman. Look at the lines that were written for her by Ewan McGregor is a hit and miss with me. He was great in Velvet Goldmine , so-so in Trainspotting but was better than most in the Star Wars trilogy. However, that is not saying much considering the rest of the cast in the movie. Ewan McGregor's role as Obi-wan Kenobi has improved but not by much, however, he did give depth to Obi as a character. Even the most powerful short dialog which left me in tears didn't convince me that Ewan is up there with the top actors.
Samual L Jackson and Ian McDiarmid as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and Mace Windu were awesome. I've seen the previous works of both actors and both fit the role perfectly.
Set Dec: There wasn't much of a set dec considering that 80% of the movie was CGI graphics. I have nothing personally against CGI graphics and even though the opening battle seen was eye candy, it was too over done and got annoying. Considering how much the Star Wars/Lucus franchise has made over the years, you would think more care could be put into the movie to try and do some things the old school way.
I love Yoda in the original trilogy. Part of what made Yoda, Jabba etc. was the pup-petering. Yoda looked too fake.
The opening sequence as mentioned before was great eye candy, however, the screen got a bit too "busy" and thus annoyed my senses a bit.
Music: Was disappointed that there wasn't any new compositions written for this episode. Most of the scores were from the previous two movies.