Entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2014)

Back in 1977 I really enjoyed the first film in the franchise, but the hype was so enormous when this came out I decided to avoid it for a bit. I finally caught up with it in 1997 by which time Time had sadly caught up with it too and wreaked its usual damage. Then it was a case of Roll Over Harryhausen, tell Jim Henson the news.
Story has imaginative intergalactic politics and battles amidst a plethora of gormless soap and stereotypes. To a kid it would be marvellous stuff to watch and as an adult to revel in through rose-tinted glasses, but coming at it as an adult I see it through the Empire's, sorry, Emperor's New Clothes and in the Altogether. It's relentlessly inventive but not in my top 1000 films of all time. Favourite bits: Luke yakking to Kermit about the Force; the flying city where expense or common sense is no object; the love affair between the Princess and the Scoundrel; the remarkably obvious pay-off, hyped at the time as something groundbreaking.
The first cut is nearly always the deepest - long live the brash first film, this sequel is entertaining and nonsensical, an eminent time-passer. The first was a monument to Luck, the second a monument to Hype; I love fantasy movies of all eras and genres but mainly those not surrounded by heaps of hype swallowed by millions of people, it's a real barrier to my complete enjoyment of anything. This is a watchable movie but only a must-watch movie to see for what digital cgi cartoonery has done to the movies, and to us. Modern cgi is usually cold and soulless but usually not jerky and laughable, cgi has spoilt us all and there's no going back. However, now to watch Jason & The Argonauts and curse Roger Rabbit.