Early Episode III review from Kevin Smith

[The Former DMiller]

Everyone thinks they're a better cook than the chef. ;)

The story of Anakin and Padme is vastly different than Han and Leia, and the latter is inherently more fun to watch than the former. Anakin and Padme are Bogart and Bergman (albeit younger and more naive); Han and Leia are Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. Han and Leia's relationship is short and playful, not very pivotal to the story of the OT movies. Anakin and Padme's relationship is naive, brash, serious, and ultimately very tragic, and very important for the story of the entire saga. You cannot use the Han and Leia dynamic with Anakin and Padme.

I see what you're saying, but I just think that the series is taking itself too seriously. I understand the difference between the Anakin/Amidala and Han/Leia relationships, but Star Wars is inherently much different than Casablanca. I realize Lucas is just itching to do some different things, but if he went through all the trouble to make the three new movies I wish he would have just kept them somewhat consistent with the original trilogy. If he wanted to make the A/A relationship in the style of Bogie and Bergman that's fine, but did it really have to take up 3/4ths of the movie? The relationship intrigued me at first in Clones, but then it just kept going...and going...and going. I just thought it was too drawn out for the type of movie Star Wars is. It also goes back to the fact that the characters aren't really that personable, which might have something to do with the dialogue. In Casablance you had hard-set feelings for Rick and Ilsa so the love story was more intriguing. Even though it can be argued that there is more at stake in regards to Anakin and Amidala, it just doesn't have the same hook, in my opinion, because the characters have fairly bland personalities.