A step down from the first two, but still worth watching

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2007)

After the shocking ending of Empire Strikes Back, audiences had high expectations for Return of the Jedi. Unfortunately Jedi fell short of many people's expectations. This used to be my favorite Star Wars movie, but as I've grown older I've come to favor Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars.
I will start with the bad:
The most common criticism of ROTJ has always been "there were too many muppets." I agree wholeheartedly. There were several scenes where I think Lucas went out of his way to make these creatures just to sell toys. Originally the Ewoks were supposed to be Wookies, but since Chewbacca had been established as an intelligent alien, Lucas replaced them with Ewoks. The muppets do not ruin the movie completely but they do degrade the quality of the final battle scene and both versions of the celebration scene. But this is not ROTJ's biggest flaw at all IMO.
Return of the Jedi just lacks the freshness of the first two Star Wars movies. The first thirty to forty minutes of the movie bring us back to Tattooine, a planet we've already seen. The only new location is Endor, which is pretty boring compared to Mos Eisley and Hoth Base. The Death Star plot from the first movie has been rehashed, probably because Lucas needed an easy way to cramp the Emperor's death and the fall of the Imperial navy in one movie. The movie has a rushed feel as well, from Han Solo's rescue to Endor to Luke's conflict with his father. As an example, take the scene where Luke tells Leia that they are siblings. Never mind the fact that this makes certain scenes in Star Wars and Empire pretty disgusting, you would think Lucas would have included a scene or two with Leia having trouble coping with the fact that her father is Darth Vader, one of the most evil men in the galaxy! But no, Lucas had to wrap things up in two hours, so there was simply no time.
By this point, most of the characters had developed as much as they could. Han Solo and Leia are marginalized big time. Ford is visibly bored in many scenes, and he just doesn't have the same flare anymore. Carrie Fisher is a zombie in this film (possibly due to her drug problems). Their material simply was not as good as the previous films. Harrison Ford didn't even want to be in Jedi; he thought Solo should have died because the character had developed as far as he could. Co-writer Lawrence Kasdan agreed with Ford. It is certainly an interesting idea and I think it could have worked. It would have finished Solo's character arc nicely, going from a selfish pirate to a martyr. Alas, the supporting characters are just there for the ride, which is all due to the cramped nature of the script IMO. I wonder how much Ford was paid.
Trivia Section: It is interesting to note that Gary Kurtz, the producer of the first two Star Wars films, insists that George had never agreed to only make three Star Wars films. The number was up in the air. I think Kurtz wanted to make a fourth star wars film, maybe even a fifth and a sixth. Lucas, however, had gotten tired of the series and wanted to wrap up all of the ideas they had for the future sequels in one movie. To be honest I don't know who is telling the truth, but the fact that ROTJ feels so cramped makes me think there is at least some truth to what Kurtz said. For example, Kurtz's Jedi would have been split into two parts: Leia looking for Han Solo and the Luke/Vader story. That means no Death Star Battle and no Emperor.
After all of my ranting, here is the good stuff. The Jabba the Hutt scenes are fun with the exception of the dance number. Jabba himself is an interesting puppet creation. Luke's story, aside from the embarrassing twist that made Leia his sister, was handled very well. Luke is the only character who actually has something interesting to do, which is to turn his father back to the good side. Luke and Vader's interactions are very moving, and you can almost see the emotion on Vader's face through the mask. Luke's character arc over the course of the three movies was done very well.
This movie's other treat is Ian McDiarmid, who makes a deliciously evil Emperor Palpatine. Aside from Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker, McDiarmid has been in more Star Wars movies than any other actor. It's amazing that make-up from 1983 can be superior to make-up from 2005! The final scene where Vader lifts the Emperor and throws him into the pit is one of the best scenes in the series.
Even though I think the Death Star II plot hurt the film, I have to praise the technical qualities of the space battle. Even without CGI it looks just as realistic as the space battle in Episode III.
Despite all of my criticisms, ROTJ is still a fun movie. The scenes involving Luke, Vader, and the Emperor really save this film. We can speculate all we want about how the movie would have been if Solo had died, or if they had made a fourth movie, but this is what we got. So we have to enjoy it for all it's worth.