The musical.

Rating: 9/10 (8 February 2001)

Episode IV - A New Hope = a landscape epic. Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back = a film Noir. Episode VI - Return of the Jedi = a musical. Well, that's what I think anyway.
Return of the Jedi. What can I say? It's not as good as the other two. It's worse. Yet it is a great film. What is it about this film that makes it poorer? It's rip-roaring entertainment, it's a work of amazing imagination, it ties up the whole of the Star Wars saga...hold it. I think I've got it: It ties up all of the Star Wars saga. Not just Episodes IV and V, but I, II and III as well, and we haven't seen II or III yet, have we?
Return of the Jedi deals with far more complex issues than A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, which have such a simple-minded Frank Capra approach. Jedi seems to want to cover too much ground for it to handle. The other two films covered a tremendous amount of ground, but it didn't go overboard for the actors who were presenting us with this material. Jedi would have been that failure that did that if it wasn't so well done.
I think the updates on this one were imaginative but unnecessary. I liked them, but I could have picked some things I would have updated, not added. That aside, I do love this film. It has a wacky musical-like feel to it, with elaborate and amazing scenes that involve either partying bounty-hunters, cute little teddy bears or spacecraft that consist of lights and lasers. Don't tell me this isn't a musical. If there were a zany side of the force, this was seduced by it.
I guess I could have done with less of Han Solo in this one. He's unnecessary. I think Harrison Ford's performance needs to be digitally altered or there needs to be something that deepens his character a lot more. Maybe my opinion will have changed once I've seen Episodes II and III.
9/10