Good, But Not As Good As The First Two

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2007)

This time, directed by Richard Marquand with Lawrence Kasdan writing the screenplay once more based on Luca$'s original work.
Well here we are. I must say that this is my least favorite of the Original Trilogy. It is a wonderful story, the great original cast from the first two (Episodes 4 & 5), and the story is excellent. The execution is superb, and the entertainment value is every bit as good as those before it.
That having been said, I'll also say from the start, that the reason I like this installment much less was the addition of the child-friendly Ewoks and their subsequent marketability. It was a cheap and obvious ploy to market yet another Star Wars toy. It worked, but it was still cheap and common. I am very dissatisfied with this practice. If a character "sells," then fine. But do NOT create a character, or as in this case, a group of characters merely to up-sell the merchandise.
Okay, I'm done with that.
This third installment (which works out to be the sixth of the series) was fun, and spirited. The dark and suspenseful atmosphere built by the story is negated by too many "light" and warm, fuzzy moments, thereby lessening the worth of this attempt. It was not the deeply pondering, mystically oriented, action-fest as were the previous two blockbusters.
It was still fun, however. Enjoyable and entertaining, it was.
In the 2004 DVD edition, there are superfluous additional scenes designed to distract you from the realization that there was a blatant waste of film time present, but that ploy fails to work if you are like me, and own the original original on VHS. That smoke screen is not evident, and these contrivances are thereby more obvious.
This installment is colored with beautiful vistas, rousing action, and a quiet sentimentality which permeates all. Yoda is old, and he is sick. Skywalker is done with his training as a Jedi, save for one small final test: He must face Vader once and for all.
There are some added scenes and characters in the background of this installment; edited in no doubt for the DVD release of the 2004 box set. These were undoubtedly designed to lead us into the third trilogy which Luca$ now says will never happen. If watching through that media, you will doubtless see clandestine meetings and furtive exchanges which lead no where in this work, leading one to only suppose that Luca$ intended something, we just were not supposed to know what. And yet, Luca$ neither directed, nor wrote this work, so we can only assume the writer was going off of the fact that there were three more Episodes for which to write tieins.
As much as I disliked the Ewoks, I must say that I was delighted to discover that Warwick Davis, beloved Willow, was Wicket the Ewok. That makes them almost bearable.
"Ewoks. They blow." Scream 2 While this chapter does have a satisfying ending, it is obvious that it is not THE end. At least Howard the Duck was honest in its attempt.
It rates an 8.8/10 from...
the Fiend :.