As good as the original three

Rating: 8/10 (23 May 2005)

A vast improvement on the dross that Lucas put out the last two times. This film does live up to the original three. The epic nature of the film is there and the special effects are, of course magnificent. Having said that, however, R2D2 jumping around to entertain children Lucas appears to be trying to gather a new fan base in a similar way to the Jar Jar Binks nonsense of the last two. He appears oblivious that his fan base is all grown up and wearing XXL jedi outfits. The humor of the first three was touching and personal, this is just moronic. The instances are thankfully much fewer than in Episodes I and II. The main weakness of this film is the dialogue. I enjoyed being immersed in the story but found myself at times thrown back to reality by conversations that were so stilted that it made me pity the actors who were forced to say them. My wife's comment was that, "it sounded like it had been read off the back of a bubblegum packet". There was not a lot that I could say to disagree with her.
Overall a nice tie in to Episode IV, it certainly made me want to see the original again. Excellent story and effects, awful script.