Star Wars Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition)

Not to get into the whole "Clerks" which movie was better argument here, but I always liked "Return of The Jedi" better then "Empire Strikes Back". The reason I love "Jedi" is that within this film you get everything that you saw in the first two within one movie. The amazing opening act at Jabba's palace and the skiff battle. Luke becoming a Jedi master on Degobah. Then the amazing third act. Luke and Vader's final battle, the battle on Endor with Han, Leia, Chewie, and the Ewoks against the storm troopers. And of course in my opinion the greatest space battle of the Star Wars saga. I remember when I was a little kid, watching that space battle and how I was amazed by it. That was one of the first great movie experiences for me as a movie lover. "Return of the Jedi" is everything you could ever want in a Star Wars movie, but beyond that everything you could want in a truly great movie.

I've been watching the SW movies again lately out of nostalgia. I don't think I;ve seen any of them since I was 10, except the 7-hour long toy commercial known as the Prequel Trilogy. This one, ROTJ, sucks. Terrible acting, horrible dialogue, plot full of gaping holes, cheesy effects, all of that. Cool when I was a kid, worthless now. I did get several laughs out of it, especially during the climactic battle, during which the "writers" spontaneously invent new rules for the force:

- If a jedi slices off your hand, it will mess up your whole program, a mortral wound (exception, if the jedi doing the slicing is a bad guy, no problem, you get a robot hand and you're good to go)

- If a jedi is firing lightning at you from his fingertips, he is 100% vulnerable to the secret jedi attack of... Grabbing A Dude From Behind and Hoisting Him In The Air (an arcane jedi technique I'm sure Luke spent hours perfecting with yoda)

- Luke employs a heretofore unknown jedi art... Jedi Hide And Seek!!!!

By the way, they seem to have grafted a musical number onto the jabba's palace portion of the movie, so bad that I would have rather had film of George Lucas dragging his nails across a chalkboard for three minutes. It would have been more enjoyable and less out-of-place.

So what about the Ewoks, it's always been for kids. And this is the weakest of the three, only cause the rest are so great! See it.

RETURN OF THE JEDI was the STAR WARS film which thrilled me most as a kid. I loved the ewoks, though now I find them to be a bit irritating. I loved the scenes in Jabba's palace, though now I think the use of Jim Henson's Creature Workshop was a bit over the top. I loved and still love the fast paced action sequences and the climactic lightsaber duel at the end. Looking back, I now prefer EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, A NEW HOPE, and even REVENGE OF THE SITH to this one. But JEDI still ranks high in my book, if for no other reason, it was just downright fun. And it still is.

The Special Edition of this film did little more than bog it down with a lot of useless junk. I refer primarily to the musical (using that word rather loosely) interlude in Jabba's palace. I'm sure I laughed at it first time I saw it in theaters in 1997, but since then only irritated feelings have I felt for that scene. The celebration scenes at the end were fine, but I don't think anyone ever missed their absence. Superimposing Hayden Christensen's image in "spirit" next to Alec Guiness and Yoda at the end seemed to me rather bizarre. Luke "saved" his father. When this happened his father did not bear Hayden Christensen's image but that of actor Sebastian Shaw. So why do we see a young Anakin at the end of the film instead of the old, dying man who got "redeemed"?

All this to say I don't think RETURN OF THE JEDI is worth watching in the special edition format; which makes me all the gladder that it has now been presented to us as we saw it in its original form in 1983.

Question: What was the stupidest storyline mistake George Lucas made concerning the `Star Wars' trilogy?

Answer: Killing off Yoda and replacing him with those ridiculous Ewoks.

Yes, with the death of Yoda in the third film 'Return of the Jedi' released in '83 the best part of the storyline died with him. To make matters worse in come those furry little Ewoks to replace him. Thus ended my interest in the movie. If you're seven years old or under you'll love it, otherwise just rewatch the first two films.

My Rating: -3 Stars- and that's being generous.