Almost the best of the saga

Rating: 10/10 (22 April 2007)

It took me a while to notice it, but public opinion actually runs fairly strongly against this film. One main reason is quite plain to see-- the Ewoks! But come on-- admit it. You've hummed their jubilant "Yub-Yub" song before. (For those of you who have unfortunately never seen this film, that song was jarringly snipped from the 1997 "Special Edition").
Now that two films have passed, we can get down to the main event-- the stunning final confrontation between the bold Rebel Alliance and the villainous Galactic Empire. While Han Solo fights to take out the shield protecting a skeletal Death Star from the "forest moon of Endor," Lando Calrissian takes the Millennium Falcon and a massive assortment of Rebel vessels in an attempt to destroy the station itself.
The Emperor-- seen here in the flesh for the first time-- is a psychotic, power-hungry dictator who has a high amount of confidence in both his enemies and his allies. And while the Ewoks can be annoying, I would just like to mention one name-- *Jar Jar Binks*! "Return of the Jedi" does not quite beat "The Empire Strikes Back," but it definitely comes close and remains one of the best sci-fi films in a time period which specialized in them.