Regardless of how many people love this, here's a few critiques...

Rating: Null/10 (23 May 1999)

Who doesn't know about this movie yet?I bet you could ask a person on the street and he'd know what you're talking about.
Dated. The movie is dated! The special effects were superior at the time but now it's no different than your modern Hollywood mass-produced Sci-Fi epic. The dialogue stinks, and the characters are not very memorable (or someone you could relate to). If you grew up in the 70s the fondness of this movie is perfectly understandable. I went to a convention one time and the foot traffic majority consisted of either 30-40 year olds or kids under 10.
This film is also uninspired. Many may not know this, but George Lucas originally got the idea from "The Hidden Fortress," a Japanese film written and directed by the famous Akira Kurosawa. If "Star Wars" was never made, "Fortress" would of been up there in noticeability with Citizen Kane and Casablanca. Essentially, this movie is just an early example of Hollywood's theft of original works of art.
I'll take a cue from all the Star Wars fanatics out there and say this movie is a "fun kitsch," maybe something you could see every two or three years, but as a worshipped icon, give me a BREAK!!!!!