What's that high-pitched, squeeing sound? Is it a disturbance in the Force?

[misachan]

Is it a million voices all crying out and suddenly being silenced? Oh, wait, no...it's all of the Master/Apprentice fans completely losing their minds. Myself included.:) That small bit at the end was probably my favorite part of the movie. Obi-Wan looked so happy. No wonder by the time New Hope comes around, everyone thinks he's strange; he spends the next sixteen years living in the desert talking to ghosts.

All in all, much, much better than the previous two. Lots of ridiculously cool fights, and everything fit together pretty well. Lucas managed to answer most of the questions: how Palpatine managed to kill ALL the Jedi, how Leia wound up on Alderaan with Bail Organa and Luke on Tatooine, why Yoda went to Dagoba (beside the Sith cave) and why he's significantly weaker sixteen years later, and why the Empire came down so hard on the Wookies.

Highlights:

Yoda the whirling ball of death. Everytime he fought, the theater burst into applause. The two favorite moments: Yoda Force shoving the two Royal Guards, and Yoda scrambling up Chewbacca to be carried. That probably got the biggest hand, come to think of it.

General Grievous. Extremely cool looking.

The Emperor's seduction of Anakin (and really, it can't be described any other way). He was such a bastard; I especially liked the "I'm so weak! Don't let him kill me!" he used to get Anakin to fall, followed immediately by more Force lightning. Yeah. Weak. And then there was that almost tender moment when he found Vader after the fight with Obi-Wan. You could almost believe there was some affection there.

Vader's Force Scream. I was hoping we'd get to see one, and it was very cool.

Count Dooku's death. The whole theater gasped. I wanted to get a little more background on Dooku, but I suppose there wil have to be books for that.

Artoo also got a lot of applause, especially when he beat the hell out of those two warrior droids in the beginning. And now we know Anakin installed all of his random attachments.

The smile on Obi-Wan's face when he said, "Qui-Gon!" His whole face lit up.

Things I would have liked to happen:

IT survived. It's as if Lucas is just screwing with us. IT didn't have any lines, but I thought for sure IT would die. Gah. I was just waiting for Vader to crash the funeral.

I was really looking forward to Boba Fett going all Inigo Montoya on Mace Windu. Mace got a great death scene and all, but I still wanted to see it. Or at least a disintegration. Maybe he was making his way to the Mandalorians.

I would have liked for Padme to have more to do then look pretty and cause Anakin angst. That's my only real criticism of the movie; the Anakin/Padme parts dragged a bit, and aside from the one line, "So this is how democracy ends. With thunderous applause," she didn't even really have much to say. And the way they explained her death was lame. She was carrying Jedi twins, and got force choked by their insane, Dark-side father. That will mess you up. SAY that. Don't just leave it with, "She's lost the will to live." Lame.

It did explain why both Luke and Leia are so restless and driven. We know from the books that Jedi are very sensitive in the womb; it's very possible Luke "remembered" Vader, and that's why he could recognize the truth in Empire.