[Hodar]

I have yet to hear a negative review on this one. Everyone agrees that the last one was a HUGE dissappointment, but promises that this one will make up for it. As for me ... I'm going to Spiderman this weekend...

[DoughtyOne]

I'm not as critical of the first movie as others were. A foundation was made for new characters and the clone wars to come. If anything, I would mention my amusement that a child Aniken's age could strip down that swamp racer and rebuild it better than before. That feeds into the liberal view that children are so gifted that they don't need parental (read that Patriarchal) input.

I remember one of the first three movies being panned. I think people expect a little too much sometimes. This isn't going to turn into the epic story of good vs evil. It's abundantly clear that for all it's lofty goals, it will miss that mark. I supposed that's because that story has already been told. This is entertainment. Accept it for what it is. Kids love it, and they're the real draw anyway.

[shockjock]

[Ronin]

This was posted yesterday.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

The infamous Jar-Jar Binks, whose ALF-like presence haunted Episode 1, is apparently reduced to minimal screen time in Episode 2.

I protest! Comparing Jar-Jar to ALF is an insult to ALF!

[LibertyGirl77]

In Episode 2, Anakin Skywalker (the artist futurely known as Darth Vader) is an arrogant young man whose uncanny abilities are more than he can handle. His persona is more Han Solo than Luke Skywalker....

Proving once again that girls always go for the guy most like their dad?

[Flashlight]

...The whole film was awash in settings and otherworldly creatures that were clearly not "there", but were added to the film by computer. This greatly diminished the suspension of disbelief...

I walked out of the movie "A.I.", on opening night, after only 25 minutes when they showed the kid walking with his teddy bear. The CGI bear walked next to him, hopping alpng and basically just defying gravity.

This intusively obvious "effect" just thrown in completely took me out of whatever "suspension of disbelief" I had left at the time. I wasn't going to waste any more of my time with this junk.

(I'd already had a few problems with the movie, and this was the last straw. If anyone's interested, I'll be glad to tell you.)

Anyway, I've got a question for all:

I haven't seen Episode 1; should I just go and see Episode 2, or should I rent Episode 1 on DVD and watch that first? (A little background: I have seen the three Star Wars movies (well, the original Star Wars only on video). The Empire Strikes Back was the first one I saw, and I don't think watching it was diminished by not having seen the first Star Wars.