The Care Bears Save the Universe

Rating: Null/10 (19 June 2003)

This one is a mixed bag, for me. Empire delivered so well on the promise of Star Wars, that expectations were even higher here. Well, they didn't quite pan out. The movie starts out well, but gets lost a bit in the middle, and is uneven at the end.
Spoilers, but who doesn't know what happens in these films?
The introduction of the new Death Star is fine, as are the scenes revolving around the attempt to rescue Han. Luke's entrance as a full Jedi has impact. The only problem here is how far advanced Luke seems, compared to how much time appears to have passed since the end of Empire. Hormonal teenagers got to drool over slave girl Leia, an image that came from a Frazetta painting and entered into many a fanboy's fantasy. Han gets thawed out, but doesn't really get to lay the smackdown on Boba Fett. Fett only gets dumped into the most Freudian image yet in these films.
The middle drags a bit. The introduction of the Emperor is great, as he definitely looks like someone who could control Vader. The Endor mission is straight out of every WWII commando movie. The speeder bike segments are good; you can only really detect the models in a few shots. Then, enter the Ewoks.
Rumor has it that Wookies were originally intended to be the primitive force that helps bring down the Empire. Since they were shown to be too sophisticated, the race was changed; to a bunch of teddy bears. OK, the Ewoks have a few moments, but mostly they were there to be cute for the little kids.
Aside from the Care Bears, er, Ewoks, we have the Luke, Leia revelation, that puts a weird spin on Star Wars and makes Allen Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye really twisted. Quite frankly, this was too big a pill to swallow. The Vader-Luke relationship was one thing (and I still maintain that it wasn't in the cards, initially), but this is just another surprise for the sake of replacating Empire's big secret. It's also a convenient way to get Luke out of the love triangle without a fight, or something that might require good writing.
The finale works for about two thirds of it. The space battle is spectacular and the lightsaber duel tops Empire's. It was fun watching someone other than Luke take out the Imperials. The shots of the damaged Star Destroyers always bring cheers. The problem is the Endor battle.
The forest battle is too cute. There are too many spots played for laughs, in what should be a serious battle. The one death of an Ewok is the lone serious moment, and it it just too, "aw, the little bear got smooshed." Had this been played more seriously, as it was in the novelization, there would probably be fewer Ewok-haters.
In all, this is still a good film; but, with big flaws that presage the mess of the prequels. The problem seems to come from George meddling to much, a weak director, and too much emphasis on commercialism. Irvin Kershner was strong enough to check Lucas' more extreme tendencies, but Marquand wasn't. In fact, most stories tend to hint that Lucas pretty much whispered instructions into Marquand's ears. That may be fanboy jealousy, but there is some truth in that idea. Still, the film does end on a high note and delivers enough of the goods that you forgive its shortcomings. The music change at the end of the Special Edition is unnecessary, but the celebrations were a nice bonus. My only quibble is that the Empire wouldn't crumble that quickly. Yes, without the fleet, much of the Empire's firepower was gone, but there still had to be a strong stormtrooper presence in the key areas. This was an idea that Timothy Zahn explored beautifully in his first Star Wars trilogy.
Hopefully, on that grand day when the Star Wars dvd's are released, George will have listened to the large number of people who want to see the films in their original state, warts and all.