Personally, I think all three prequels stink. And I'm not real fond of 'Jedi', either. It's tries so hard to bring in the cutsie aspect (Ewoks) that it detracts from the rest of the film.
That isn't to say that the SFX aren't absolutely stunning. And the pic and sound are just incredible. Unfortunately, bad acting is still bad acting, and it's tough to overcome poor writing, direction, and editing by just throwing a bunch of CG and sound at the audience.
Lucas should stick to producing. His vision is great, but his skills as a dialogue writer are laughable and his directing is only so-so. I won't even go into the editing.
Oh, and who in the heck cast Hayden Christensen? Would someone find that poor dunce and sentence him to watching every commercial ever made by Billy "Orange Oxy Kaboom Clean Glow" Mays. At least Billy boy has enough spunk to be entertaining. Kudos to Ewan McGregor, who just nails Alec Guinness, and to Ian McDiarmid for aboslutely chewing up the scenery in every frame he's in. I'm torn on Sam Jackson. I think he did a fair job, but the way he played the character I expected him to jump up at any second, pull out a Big Kahuna burger & a big chromed pistol, and start saying, "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish, and the tyranny of evil men..."
Thankfully, Jar Jar kept his annoying trap shut, or I might have had to turn around and smack the pimple factory behind me that insisted keeping up a running dialoge with his pudgy companion on every nuance, inside joke, and bit of trivia.
In the end I'll probably buy the stupid DVD so my nephew will have something to do while his Mom, Dad, and I do something only slightly more creative (sit on the patio, char mammal flesh, and drink beer). At least the Behind the Scenes should be moderately entertaining.
There. Got that off my chest. Now I'm going to go home, turn up the A/C, grab a frosty beverage, and watch a truly GOOD movie - Bubba HoTep. Or maybe UHF.
Brad
