Overall good but beware of the hype (minor spoilers below)

Rating: 8/10 (21 May 2005)

I have been anxiously waiting for this movie. I know a bunch of people have commented on it so I will try to be brief and will assume you have read many other reviews. Loved the Original Trilogy (OT) and thought Episode 1 was fair and Episode 2 was acceptable. I had read all the critics and prior nay-sayers carrying on about how great this movie was and I really wanted it to be incredible. Unfortunately, I believe it is a victim of its own critic praises. The praise built my expectations up so high that it would have been hard to really reach it. So, I saw this opening day in a pretty good theater and was expecting the sun, moon and stars.
I was disappointed. Now, having said that, it was still the best of the prequels and was almost as good as some of the OTs. The movie really did tie together the threads and help make everything more sensible. I read a quote from George Lucas where he admitted that of the original back story he did for the OT, Episode 1 and 2 of the prequels together had about 40% of it and Episode 3 has about 60% of it. So he always knew that the other 2 were padded a lot in order to make them into 2 separate movies. Think 20-20-60 and you have a pretty good comparison for this movie.
Palpatine was wonderful and I cannot believe how lucky they were to have cast that guy way back in Return of the Jedi. Getting to see the Emperor really face foes, with lightsaber and force, was a treat. I understand more about why Anakin turned to the Dark Side and contrary to most other reviews, I thought it made sense.
SPOILER - others say it was because the Emperor tricked him but I believe it was pretty clear that he was determined to keep Padme from dying and let himself be led down that path because of his love for her. The Ends Justify the Means at its purest example. It is also good to view General Greivious as a precursor to the "more machine than man" Darth Vader. I always used to wonder why Obi Won and Yoda never fought back as I watched them in OT and now I know the answers.
Overall, it is a good movie and I gave it an 8. Had I not read so many glowing reviews, I probably would have enjoyed it more. I hope you like it. My 13 year old son thought it was incredible.