Subject: Review: Return of the Jedi Special Edition (1997)

From: Steve Kong <[email-masked]>
Date: 8 Jan 1998 17:36:37 GMT

RETURN OF THE JEDI SPECIAL EDITION (1997)

A film review by Steve Kong
Copyright 1997 Steve Kong

"Die Ewoks!  Die!"  This is the phrase my Star Wars friends and I
chant after every viewing of Return of the Jedi.  Return of the Jedi
could have been a good, no, great ending for the Star Wars Trilogy but
there were those damn Ewoks.

After finding out that his father was Darth Vader in The Empire
Strikes back, Luke Skywalker and his friends set out to end the reign
of The Empire once and for all.  What the Rebels find out is that The
Empire has been working hard on another Death Star, this time bigger
and better than the original.  What are the Rebels to do but to
destroy the Death Star again and claim victory?  But, first Luke and
Leia must rescue Han Solo, who was carbon frozen in The Empire Strikes
back.

Return of the Jedi was the long awaited finale to the Star Wars
Trilogy.  Given the brilliance of the predecessors, Return of the Jedi
should have been the best of the series.

There are some great qualities about Return of the Jedi.  The movie
was made far enough later than the original Star Wars that the special
effects were perfected enough to create a huge space battle.  The
space battle near the end of the movie is well crafted and fun to
watch.  The story about Darth Vader and his redemption is great.  The
story about Luke and his quest to stay with the Light Side of the
Force is also good.  The evil Emperor is cool also.  And it was great
to see Yoda back again, though so briefly.

What stunk about Return of the Jedi are those damn Ewoks.  A blatant
aim at commercial success in the after-movie market, the Ewoks were
introduced.  I'm sure most of you know who the Ewoks are already, but
for those of you who don't, the Ewoks are a bunch of cuddly looking
teddy bear like creatures that live in the forests of Endor.  The
Ewoks are cute and make for great stuff animals that kids will beg for
once they step out of the theatre.  But for us Star Wars fans the
Ewoks are a plain insult.  These snuggly cuddly creatures should have
been digitally erased during the Special Edition production.  They are
plain annoying and ruin the mood for most of Return of the Jedi.

For the Special Edition there was not much added to the film.  The
film itself is so new that most of the special effects still look
pretty good.  What was added, and is most noticeable is the end
sequence.  Instead of the plain Rebel celebration with the Ewoks, we
now get to see a grant universal scale celebration.  This end
sequence, with new music from John Williams, changes the overall feel
of the Trilogy for the better.

Overall, Return of the Jedi is a good film.  But I wish that Lucas
would have done something with those Ewoks.  Don't Miss Return of the
Jedi Special Edition, even if you've seen the original Return of the
Jedi.  The ending is much better in the Special Edition form.

I hate Ewoks.

---
 steve kong                                        [email-masked]
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