A great, light-hearted ride that enriches the originals and features one of the wildest villains in recent history. The movie is filled with inside jokes (although that can exclude non-fans)--did anybody else get it when Obi-Wan says, "I have a bad feeling about this."? He's the only major character that doesn't say that in the first 3. I think everyone expected a rousing triumph like the first film, and when that wasn't delivered, some folks got disappointed. Hey, when the main character is a kid--have you ever worked with kids? (much as I love 'em) I know most of the original fan base liked it, but not everybody else...consider what's to come in the next 2...this one needed to be more farcical--quit trying to tilt it as a movie not as good as "Star Wars" and enjoy it for the wonderful escape that it is...this is one film I think will only be appreciated in retrospect. The scenery is jaw-dropping, Maul is fabulously scary, the Jedi light-sabre battles pale the original hand-to-hand combat scenes and the pod-race is exciting (Ben-Hur or no Ben-Hur). It's a fantastic movie--it's just not "Star Wars", but it's not supposed to be. 9/10.
