Epic and Entertaining in Spite of Flaws (7.5)

Rating: 7/10 (15 January 2013)

RETURN OF THE JEDI was my favorite Star Wars film as a child. From an adult perspective, I find it a bit flawed and frustrating in some ways, but that should not take away from the many fantastic elements at work, and the very satisfying high that it ends on.
The biggest issue is the light, sometimes throwaway silly tone that is present in parts of the film. There is a little of that in the Jabba's Palace sequence that makes up the front end of the story, but of course it is the Ewoks who are the prime expression. It is my understanding that early drafts of the story called for Wookies to be utilized instead of Ewoks. That would have made logical sense, given Chewbacca a great emotional anchor and made for fantastic storytelling. However, the more cuddly, teddy-bear-like Ewoks were created, and the sight of them taking on Imperial Stormtroopers, while frequently entertaining and humorous and a well-meaning metaphor, is just silly. It takes away from the dramatic tension that was built up in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
Beyond that, ROTJ also just feels kind of uneven overall, as though it is several separate films spliced together. But don't get me wrong, a lot of it is really great. Jabba's Palace is exotic and intriguing, the speeder bike chase through the forests of Endor is classic, and it is nice to see more of how the Rebel Alliance is made up of so many alien races, all pulling together for the common ideal of freedom.
There are at least two things about ROTJ that are absolutely fantastic. One is the space battle around the second Death Star in orbit over Endor. As a special effects sequence, this is still mind-blowing 30 years later. There will almost certainly never be another model-based orchestration like this. I shudder to imagine how much work went into creating the dizzying ballet of starfighters and warships spinning through the void of space in a hailstorm of laser bolts. Incredible.
The other incredible part is Luke Skywalker's final, climactic confrontation with Darth Vader and the Emperor. As others have noted, it's not as much an action sequence as the Luke-Vader duel in TESB, but rather a psychological crucible. John William's haunting musical score is perfect for the dark, emotionally apocalyptic setting. It is a very powerful character-development setpiece for Luke.
Regarding the "changes" made by George Lucas for the 1997 Special Edition and the 2004 Special-er Edition, I find them almost universally horrible. The new Jabba's Palace dance sequence is painful to watch, not to mention hideously cheap looking CGI. I will always take costumes, makeup and animatronics over CGI in these sorts of instances. And of course, the ending where Hayden Christensen replaces Sebastian Shaw as Anakin Skywalker (while Alec Guiness is *not* replaced by Ewan McGregor) is just plain puzzling. What was George Lucas thinking?
Overall, RETURN OF THE JEDI - the ORIGINAL 1983 THEATRICAL VERSION - is a wonderfully entertaining conclusion to the original STAR WARS trilogy. It's a great film for kids, and while my adult self really wishes that the story had been written more seriously, it is nevertheless a captivating creation and very enjoyable.