There are a lot of great things about The Empire Strikes Back, and it is tremendous to be able to enjoy it, and the other Star Wars movies, with my two enthusiastic boys. However, I never realized, as a child, how heavily the plot relies on the repeated failures of the Millenium Falcon to make the jump to light-speed to move the plot forward. I guess that isn't a horrible condemnation, but it surprised me, as an adult, how many minutes of this movie are spent on the struggle to fix the hyperdrive.
Nevertheless, this series is such a classic; I love watching how excited the boys get over it. I also love understanding every part of the dialogue. Yoda's wisdom is not quite as mysterious and profound, but is still high-quality and enjoyable. I'm somewhat amazed that the same mind that invented ewoks and Jar-Jar Binks was able to conceive all of the other, lovely details of this universe. The romantic tension between Han Solo and Princess Leia is also a little more aggressive, than I remember. It's a bit unsettling, actually. However, it resolves fairly well and their affection seems genuine, despite the lack of onscreen evidence for it.
This post is not cohesive, nor informative. I know it. But I'm going to post it anyway, because I want to express my euphoria over relishing a favorite movie raised to the power of 2 Star Wars-loving boys. Someone in euphoria can be excused for be incoherent. Right?
4 comments :
I was just talking about this with a friend the other day. About how the movie was SO great when we were kids, and as we get older the luster is tarnished by plot holes etc...but the euphoria is still there over the epic of it all.
He found this blog post
http://www.jivemagazine.com/column.php?pid=3381
discussing, from a slightly more agressive angle, the same thing, er, kinda. :)
Anyway, great to hear that the boys ate it up like so much good tapioca.
Oh yeah, we both agreed that Star Wars allows us to be 7 years old again.
As it should be.
But even more important, Lief, is how much more enjoyable a favorite old movie is when you see the excitement and joy manifested by a little semi-clone of yours. These even extends to Grand-semi-clones and Great-Grand-semi-clones!!
By the way, Observer, you are excused in your euphoria for your incoherence. Note the spelling of that last word.
I have been disappointed several times with movies that I loved as a child and then found them less appealing as an adult, but rarely have I seen one that is enjoyed by the next generation like the Star Wars collection is.
Post a Comment