Star Wars? Never heard of it

Rating: 10/10 (9 September 2000)

One day I am going to have children, and I will read to them every night. I will read to them all the greatest stories ever told: King Arthur, Robin Hood, the Wizard of Oz. I'll read stories about knights, cowboys, sorcery and love. And I will read Star Wars. The original trilogy first, then the prequels, then all the other books written about that faraway galaxy. And here's where it gets interesting: I'll read Star Wars to my children when they are 4 or 5...but I won't let them watch the movies until they are thirteen. Then I will ask them if the films were anything at all like how they imagined the stories, and if they say yes, then Star Wars must truly be the greatest movie ever made.
That's all it is really. It's a fairy tale for the modern age. I'm sure plenty of people have said that before, but it's true. It has everything a fairy tale should have: strong but unlikely heroes, evil bad guys, magic, romance, swordfighting, chases, suspense, treachery, and Jawas. It should be listed among the great stories of history; in fact, it's only flaw is that it's a movie: you can see and hear it, so it takes a lot away from your imagination. There are no King Arthur movies (at least no really great or popular ones) so you can picture Arthur and Launcelot any way you wish, but Han Solo will always be Harrison Ford, and vice versa.
But as a movie, it becomes the greatest story ever told on film, especially when you add in all the sequels that enrich the original film so much. My favorite shot in Star Wars is in the beginning when you first see Darth Vader as he boards Leia's ship and steps over fallen rebels and stormtroopers. After watching the whole trilogy over and over again all my life, that shot is incredible: the first time you see it, Vader looks cold and ruthless, as though he were born and bred for evil. But put it in context with the rest of the story, and you remember that Vader is not really the bad guy, he was once a bright-eyed young boy, he would become a father and a hero but become seduced and made a pawn of the true evil.

Lucas is neither a genius nor a god. But he created a world for us that no one had ever seen before except in our hearts and imaginations. What Star Wars is, really, is the closest any movie has ever come to showing pure Imagination. I think my kids are gonna love it.