Not A Great Conclusion but Still Fun For the Most Part

Rating: 6/10 (4 January 2016)

When I was a child I loved Star Wars. They were basically my childhood in a nutshell. This one was always my favorite, but upon re-watching them I realized that this was the odd one out.
The plot isn't great. It gets into it almost immediately, so it's basically just supposed to be a big battle. Which is fine, it doesn't feel particularly dragged out because of all the stuff that happens, but it just felt like there wasn't a whole lot of content in the movie.
The characters are fine. They were developed in the previous movies, and this one is, like I said, just the big final battle for the most part, so we don't exactly get to know them that much better. We still get some new character development stuff, but not a whole lot changes between them. Which is fine, we've gotten to know them over the past few movies and now it's time to finish off the trilogy.
Probably the biggest reason why this movie fails is the way in which it decides to end. It becomes a much more childish movie, and after The Empire Strikes Back's darker tone it really just feels like an awkward transition. The final battle is playful and fun, not serious. It's not meant to be, but it just doesn't follow it's predecessor's newly set tone at all.
Overall Return of the Jedi is a good movie, but as an ending to the Star Wars trilogy not as great as it could have been. The tone is reset to make it feel like more of a kid's/older kid's movie, which turns out to be an awkward transition. Content-wise it feels like it lacks as well. In the end I would recommend Return of the Jedi, because if you've gotten this far then you might as well finish it. It's not a bad movie, it just doesn't feel right after The Empire Strikes Back.