Ever a lover of education, I have happily acquiesced. Beyond my own pretense, I believe that the negative reviews stem from a collective fear of our own mortality. For most of us, Star Wars is intrinsically linked to our childhood. I'm confident that I'm not the only one who engaged my friends in fearsome combat, armed with flashlights and garbed in Underoos. Part of the price of growing up, is a loss of innocence and wonder.
Adults are capable of a greater complexity of thought, but children believe in magic.
As the weariness of daily life takes its toll, our subconscious yearns for simpler times. A time when we could believe, imagine, and let go. I believe that many of the people who venture to see TPM do so with the subconscious desire to become children again. Our intellect assures us that this cannot happen, but our subconscious is not so easily convinced. When the viewer is not transformed, our intellect lashes out in misdirected fury, judging the film for what it could not hope to accomplish.