The only highlight of the movie is Yoda fighting, which lasts all of a minute.
The characters are not likeable, the acting is wooden (granted it was never great in the original series, but George drops it to an all-time low), the CGI for all it's hype is pretty weak (the whole "Gladiator" scene looked like it could have been done with claymation...the fight in Jabba's pit was more realistic), the dialog is forced and predictable (you could see the "I have a bad feeling about this" line coming a mile away), the plot (what there was of it) was slow moving, and the villains are almost absent and not in the slightest bit menacing.
Lucas tries to tell us that this was supposed to be a love story, but fails convincingly to show any chemistry...he would have been better off letting us assume something happened off-screen. He doesn't have to show the origin of absolutely everything, because I'd rather see a plot that is exciting than ultimately see new inconsistencies that can't be explained (like R2D2 flying).
Let's face it, if episodes 4, 5, and 6 hadn't come out first, this series never would have made it as far as episode 4. I feel compelled to see episode 3 only for completeness sake, not on the merits of episode 1. My hindsight is 20/20, but at this point, I much would have preferred episodes 7, 8, and 9 instead.
But you're right TD. It's a matter of opinion, but in this case, I guess ours are different. Cheers.
