Not great cinema, but good fun.

Rating: 7/10 (23 May 1999)

Star Wars is not the greatest movie ever made. The plot is essentially "the brave knight fights the dragon and saves the princess from the dark castle." A lot of the characterization is pretty silly.
However, it is still a very entertaining film. It's full of action, adventure, and good-natured heroism. The special effects now look somewhat cheesy, and a lot of the dialogue is just ridiculous, but heck, that just adds to the fun. Star Wars may not provide deep insights into the human condition, but it sure delivers good, swashbuckling escapism.
The recently-released "Special Edition" is in fact inferior to the original. While the special effects have been "enhanced" by Industrial Light and Magic's digital whiz kids, these slick computerized FX look out of place beside the rest of the movie's more "primitive" visuals. As for the much-ballyhooed added scenes... well, let's just say that there was a reason that they were cut from the original. Some other alterations are just foolish. It's still fun, but not as much fun as Star Wars' original incarnation.