(Episode II) Yoda makes me squeal with glee.

[Steven McRownt]

Do you remember the Roger Rabbit movie? (actually i don't know the original title, because in italin they have the weird tradition of translating everything)

There were this cartoon characters interacting in the real world with real actors, but of course all gave a strange effect. I will not rate this -actually it was truly funny IMO- but i just want to say that Ep II trailer gave me the same impression:

there are some real characters that are "strangers" in a world which is not "real" or "proper to them": actors are the cartoons, in a scene where everything is amazingly digital. So it comes the impression some of you had, like their acting is wooden: even Roger or Jessica Rabbit seemed wooden in that old movie!

To make the point, i think that we're all going to see something that will not respond to our expectations: we grew up with star wars, and it's so difficult for us making a comparison to something that is part of uor youth dreams... Lotr realized something we were waiting, but none of us actually had a comparison term.

At the same time, i will go to the cinema the 16th of may too (one of the few movie that goes out in Italy, Europe and America the same day, even TPM was 3 months late), and i will spend probably two hours of fun... but i will complain the old trilogy!

Steven McRownt

 

[shadow]

What worries me is the over abundance of CGI and special effects. Although I like eye-candy as much as the next person, I think Lucas has gone overboard with special effects at the expense of a good story. Remember how Lucas was bragging that he had created the "first completely CGI character" Jar Jar Binks. It turned out that Jar Jar was an abomination, created simply to show off the CGI capabilities. Instead of focusing completely on special effects, Lucas needs to go back and think about what made the original trilogy great.

 

[Dave G]

Artoo Deetoo could fly in Episode 1, it just ended up on the cutting room floor. I think the CGI stuff blends more smoothly than it ever has, and it's getting better all the time.

I'm one of the rare ones who actually enjoyed Episode 1 and I don't hold the same standards for the movies that I had when I was young and seeing episodes 4-6 for the first time.

It's somewhat ludicrous to hold the standards of our youthful experiences up to the more modern story that's being told. If it is a bad movie, time will tell, all I ask is that you either wait and see, then say it's bad, or if you're not going to see it, please stop trying to ruin the magic for all of the rest of us. I didn't rain in your Cheerios, why is it that people so vehemently try to excrete in mine...

Or to quote a friend of mine:
"Why are you all up in my Kool-ade when you don't even know what flavor it is?"

 

[Zhure]

Do you remember the Roger Rabbit movie? (actually i don't know the original title, because in italin they have the weird tradition of translating everything)

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"

We now return you to the original Star Wars thread.

Greg

Don't ask me about the theory that Darth Vader is Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Old Ben Kenobi is Anakin Skywalker, because that's the path of madness, but just remember it whenever you watch Episode IV and you'll see the clues....

 

[Dr Midnight]

Or to quote a friend of mine:
"Why are you all up in my Kool-ade when you don't even know what flavor it is?"

Nice!

I enjoyed Ep I, while at the same time realizing that there were several big gooey flaws. Jake Lloyd's casting is my biggest beef, second is the Jar Jar flatulence ("pee-yoosah!") two-second clip before the podraces begin. I mean, really, what the hell.

Otherwise, I walked away from the theater having had a great time. Mmmm, lightsaber crispiness. Mace Windu. Darth Maul. Vehicle designs by Doug Chiang, costumes and other designs by Iain McCaig. Jedi! Seeing the opening fanfare logo/space text crawl in a new movie. Naboo's planet core.

I'm in a blithering state of Yoda over here.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I don't hold the same standards for the movies that I had when I was young and seeing episodes 4-6 for the first time.

LOTR lived up to my 'child-like' expectations. Spiderman did too. It's certainly possible for a movie to deliver on those expectations.

Lucas can't have it both ways. He can't ask us NOT to expect the same experience we had with the original Star Wars, and then at the same time expect us to put our butts in the seats simply BECAUSE it's Star Wars. If you watch Ep1 and divorce yourself from the fact that it's a Star Wars movie you're left with... well, just not a very good movie.

Basically it bothers me to have Lucas bank on the goodwill of the franchise, release a movie that doesn't deliver that experience, and then to top it all off, BELITTLE the fandom and the goodwill we have (had?) for Star Wars. If it wasn't Star Wars-- if it wasn't specificallyfor the fact that I hold it in goodwill based on my childhood experience-- it would have no redeeming qualities at all!


And it bothers me for him to say he doesn't owe anything to the fans, and yet assume that the fans will be there for him opening weekend.

Blah blah blah... Yoda kicking ass IS pretty f'in cool, though!


Wulf

 

[King_Stannis]

LOTR lived up to my 'child-like' expectations. Spiderman did too. It's certainly possible for a movie to deliver on those expectations.

Lucas can't have it both ways. He can't ask us NOT to expect the same experience we had with the original Star Wars, and then at the same time expect us to put our butts in the seats simply BECAUSE it's Star Wars. If you watch Ep1 and divorce yourself from the fact that it's a Star Wars movie you're left with... well, just not a very good movie.

Basically it bothers me to have Lucas bank on the goodwill of the franchise, release a movie that doesn't deliver that experience, and then to top it all off, BELITTLE the fandom and the goodwill we have (had?) for Star Wars. If it wasn't Star Wars-- if it wasn't specificallyfor the fact that I hold it in goodwill based on my childhood experience-- it would have no redeeming qualities at all!


And it bothers me for him to say he doesn't owe anything to the fans, and yet assume that the fans will be there for him opening weekend.

Blah blah blah... Yoda kicking ass IS pretty f'in cool, though!


Wulf

spiderman and lotr may have lived up to your expectations, but what i think people are talking about is comparing a movie series from your childhood, a series who's shortcomings you've probably learned to overlook, against a new series that can't possibly compete with the warm and fuzzy "X" factor you (and many others) assign to the original.

as for lucas not listening to his fans, i'll say it again. HE DOES! the inclusion of jango fett and a young boba is absolutely a tip of the hat to the fans. a huge one, at that. lucas was always mystified at the public fascination with boba, a very minor character in his view. i doubt that without the fan appreciation for boba that lucas would have assigned his father such a prominent role.

again, his problem is that if he "listened to the fans" the way the fans want him to, these new movies would be awful. since when does watching the original trilogy 35+ times make anyone an expert in filmmaking? if you listen to most of these half-wits (not referring to you Wulf), though, they'd think that it makes them more than qualified.

i would disagree with you about your assessment of episode I. divorce yourself of the fact it's a star wars movie, and i actually feel it comes out even better than people think. it's problem was that a) it was unevenly paced at times; and b) it had to live up to unreasonable expectations. in any respect, i thought episode 1 was a good, solid and slightly flawed movie. better than 90% of the crap hollywood churns out.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

as for lucas not listening to his fans, i'll say it again. HE DOES! the inclusion of jango fett and a young boba is absolutely a tip of the hat to the fans. a huge one, at that. lucas was always mystified at the public fascination with boba, a very minor character in his view. i doubt that without the fan appreciation for boba that lucas would have assigned his father such a prominent role.

Sort of makes you wonder about Lucas' whole "I had the whole nine movies planned out from the beginning" BS, huh? Because Jango is INTEGRAL to the plot. God, it hurts seeing him pull stuff out of his ass.

At any rate, there is a difference between pandering to market forces and respecting the fans. And I submit that respecting the fans is really more about respecting Star Wars. That's the outrage. Jar Jar? Midichlorians? Greedo shoots first? For 20 years a great majority bought into Lucas' entire Campbellian Hero Myth, and when he fails to live up to his own hype, he turns around and tells everyone, after all, "It's just a movie!"

The fact remains that Lucas did tap into something great, something mythic, and his inability to recapture that has made him bitter to his fans and his world.

We (speaking on behalf of the disgruntled fans) would really rather see him succeed, believe me. We don't take any particular delight in seeing the pitiful old man behind Great Oz's curtain.


Wulf

 

[KnowTheToe]

I am tired of all of the Jack***** crying, don't see the movie opening day. I don't like Lucas, boo hoo, get over your over judgemental selves. It is only a movie. If you don't like Lucas, don't see the movie. Anyway Lucas makes the same amount of money if you see it in any of the first 14 days of the movie's opening. If you see it after 14 days, the theater owner will make a larger percentage of the ticket sales and Lucas will make less. So ban the first 14 days and shut up.

 

[Mistwell]

I agree with CamelToe. The whining, bitching, moaning, and complaining is pathetic. Star Wars is a series of KIDS MOVIES. Yes, adults like it, but it's primarily made for kids. And kids LOVED Episode 1. Every kid I know (and it is several) really liked Anakin, and really liked Jar Jar binks, and saw no flaws with the movie.

I really liked A New Hope when I was a kid. When Luke complained to his dad about not being able to go out until his chores were done, I identified with him (of course, as an adult, this is one of my least favorite parts of the movie). When he walked into that bar with all those strange aliens, I was dazzled (they are puppets, and looked quite fake in the original version of the movie). And I thought Mark Hamil was the BEST actor (he, well, just isn't). From the perspective of a kid, I saw no flaws with A New Hope.

So, before you bitch again about Phantom Menace, or Attack of the Clones, go see it with a child, probably male, age 5-9 or so. Then ask him what he thought of the movie (before infecting him with your adult negativity). I bet he loves them both!