Throughout the Theater My Scream Was Heard

Beyond that, I will say nothing of Episode VII except it did really well and stood on its own two feet. I think back to the prequels and think they weren't bad. Except they had such high standards to live up to. They also weren't great. They were good. Phantom Menace was a fun scifi romp. Jar Jar was annoying but his friend the honorable gun gan was cool. Qui Gon Jim. Pod Racing. Baby Obi Wan.

Episode 2...well I like to pretend it was the last. Again it expanded. Some of the continuity raised questions. In others is truly showed us how Anakin began to fall. His mothers death, his conflicted feelings for Padmae. And tbh the Jedi Council was fun to meet. And CGI Yoda fight. RIP Christopher Lee.

Episode 3...I watched once and vowed never to again. It was decently done but my soul died when Anakin and the Padawans.

Also major questions about Anakin not realizing his wife delivered twins. And that he hadn't killed her. And why did he think she was going to die exactly?

Now. No argument. The original trilogy from the 70's-80's was fars superior.

The prequels weren't bad though.

The problem to be honest is special effects. About late 90's-Mid 2000's, and to some extent still going on, Hollywood began to focus on what they could do. The acting and use of effects became lazy and seconded to "Weee look what I can do with cgi and crap".

Don't get me wrong I love CGI. As a fantasy geek Dany's Dragons in Game of Thrones and Smaug are fantastic.

But in the hey day of the original Star Wars trilogy, there was no CGI. They had to use what they had to its best extent. The original cuts before CGI and new scenes were shoved in are the best.

Because of brilliant acting and effects that while slightly dated are still effective.

Doubt me?

Princess Bride. Epic Fantasy Classic. Limited effects. Master piece.

Movies in the 70's and 80's had to be better. Hollywood was still getting popular. Movies needed to depend far more on writing and acting.

By Episode One...Lucas got lazy. It was more about the almost cartoonish droids. The ridiculus over the top CGI characters introduced. Writing and acting was not the focus.

Among its contempary movies, the prequel series of Star Wars faired well. They were fun. Well. I and II were. And III bridges the two universes we know fairly well.

And my spoiler free review of Episode VII is as follows:

Its bloody brilliant. Its quite possibly the beginning of a new Saga. The focus was on the writing and acting and a Valentine to fans of the original series. There were some excellent effects, but CGI was used sparingly compared to animontronics and the like.

Again I will not compare it to Episodes IV-VI. Not this time because its not fair. But because it is not trying to emulate. It is telling a new story about new characters in a new universe. I applaud and hope VIII is even half as good.