The Land Before Time

Surprisingly or not, dinosaurs were part of children's imaginations long before Jurassic Park. Dino-obsessed kids of the 1980s likely were exposed to neat and inventive productions about fearfully great lizards even before the hit ABC series Dinosaurs. For example, there was the 1985 TV segment Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs (in which Gary Owens turned into a prehistoric creature), and the 1987 educational short starring Fred Savage called Dinosaurs: A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time! (as well as the cool song "Mesozoic Mind" that accompanied it). But even after all that, in 1988, young dinosaur fans were gifted with the animated feature The Land Before Time.

Wondrous, pre-Disney renaissance animation accompanied by James Horner's wonderful score is how The Land Before Time commences, and what a start it is. Horner's score is among his very best, particularly in those opening moments, signifying with that dominant brass and celestial choral arrangement that you're really in for a treat with this film. Executive produced by George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall, The Land Before Time was directed by Don Bluth, the animator behind several well-regarded animated films of the era, including The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, and All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Pat Hingle as the narrator tells us that our story is "in the time of the dinosaurs." But something is clearly wrong. Everything seems so dark and apocalyptic, and there is little food to eat. Trees are dying, and the leaf-eaters are starving. The sky is all sorts of dismal colors. It's like the dinosaur scene in Fantasia, only slightly less terrifying. There's a new young Apatosaurus named Little Foot (voiced by Gabriel Damon), who joins his grandparents and mother on a journey to the Great Valley in search of a better life and more food. However, there are all sorts of obstacles in their way, starting with a giant "earth shake", as the young ones call it, or clashing of the continents, as our narrator explains. This earthquake causes Little Foot to be separated from his mother.

Also separated from their families are Cera (voiced by Candace Hutson), a Triceratops, and Ducky (voiced by Judith Barsi), a Saurolophus. Little Foot is depressed and Cera is overly stubborn, but the three of them eventually decide to band together and make their way to the Great Valley. Little Foot knows the way, for his mother told him. Fortunately for him, the directions are pretty simple: it's something like they have to keep walking until the great ball of fire in the sky reaches the ground and then they'll eventually find it. Along the way, they find two more members to join their band: Petrie, a Pteranodon who can't fly, and a new-born Stegosaurus named Spike who doesn't talk. Petrie is voiced by Will Ryan, the only adult among them, and whose choices I found distracting compared to the natural voices of the younger actors; to me, his voice acting sounded like a bad Robin Williams impression.

One of their obstacles is each other, as their parents tell them things like "three-horns never play with long-necks." They'll have to overcome their differences. (Incidentally, this was criticized by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, who wrote about how one of the songs used in a sequel was the articulation of what he called "liberal multiculturalist ideology", while also noting the irony of having a song celebrating differences in a movie where dinosaurs eat each other, but I digress.) Beyond their squabbles and the swamps and the lack of food and the platonic shifts, though, is a mighty T-Rex (because of course there is), whom they call "Sharp Tooth", constantly chasing them.

Despite apparently against the wishes of most who were involved (as they had nothing to do with the following films), the success of The Land Before Time resulted in a whopping thirteen sequels, as well as a TV series and fourteen spin-off games. I think I only have seen one of them (the 1994 sequel, The Great Valley Adventure, which for some reason we watched in my second-grade class, but that's Catholic schooling for you). The Great Valley Adventure found its way onto Total Film's list of the fifty worst kids movies. It was also this sequel that started incorporating musical numbers into the franchise. None of the cast returned, either, except for Hutson, who provided the voice of Cera for a total of four times, including the fourth film, which is her last acting credit. Unfortunately, tragedy struck the same year The Land Before Time was released when young Judith Barsi was the victim of a double murder-suicide at the hands of her father. The film All Dogs Go to Heaven, in which she provided the voice of Anne-Marie, is dedicated to her.

Regardless of Zizek's critique, The Land Before Time is, for better or worse, remarkably simple, but it works. It is able to successfully pull the emotional strings almost as deftly as its competitor Disney films before and after did. It can be a bit repetitive at times, with Cera acting bratty and Sharp Tooth chasing after them being familiar notes, but I'm a sucker for stories of friendship and survival. Thus, The Land Before Time feels rather apt these days. It's a great watch for parents who might want to introduce part of their childhood to their young children during these uncertain times.

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All the Star Wars Movies Ranked

You probably have seen all or most of the major theatrically released Star Wars movies, but with an animated film, made-for-TV productions, who knows how many stand-alone films, and an infamous holiday special, there are many more out there than just the eight episodes. Some are good, some are bad, and some are uglier than Jabba himself. Below is my official ranking of all of the Star Wars films released so far:

14. The Star Wars Holiday Special
You have not lived until you've seen The Star Wars Holiday Special. I almost simply want to leave it at that. Why was there a desire to turn the hit 1977 blockbuster into a Christmas special one year later on TV? Money, I guess. Money, and the fact that people often like movies that are so bad, they're good. This "holiday special" opens with Han and Chewie being chased by a Star Destroyer, some mumbo-jumbo about a Christmas-like holiday called Life Day, and then a bizarre introduction of the cast. The regulars are all there--how they were convinced to do a TV holiday special, we'll never know--but we also have Bea Arthur, Art Carney, and Harvey Korman. And an animated portion. And it's a musical. And Carrie Fisher was high. And George Lucas has supposedly said that if he could destroy ever boot-legged copy, he would. Watch this mess of a movie, and then watch Harrison Ford's reaction to it.

13. Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
Released a year after Return of the Jedi, which (love it or hate it) featured lots of furry little teddy bear-like Ewoks who stage guerrilla warfare to help take down the Empire, Lucasfilm's TV movie Caravan of Courage took the Ewoks from cute to ugly and annoying. Instead of wanting to cook and eat the humans of Return of the Jedi, the Ewoks (including Wicket, played by Warwick Davis) find two young kids abandoned in the forests of Endor and take them in, even learning a bit of English along the way. (It takes place before Return of the Jedi, so why don't the Ewoks want to eat the humans?)

"We...help...you," one of them says. The little girl is sick, but of course the Ewoks have all-natural herbal miracles to save the day--hurrah! Star Wars isn't exactly known for its Olivier-esque acting and Shakespearean dialogue, but it's quite embarrassing here. We get a lot of Ewoks talking to each other and Burl Ives (of all people) doing his best to narrate our way to some sort of meaning. Despite what should have been a hefty budget, the production features cheesy-looking puppetry and animatronics. It's all tremendously boring as well, with a lame villain (the Gorax monster) and dull, flat action sequences.

Why was this movie made?

If you couldn't stand some of the prequels, just watch this, and it will make any scene involving Gungas feel like Citizen Kane.

12. Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
The sequel to Caravan of Courage, this one is an improvement, but only slightly. In it, the adorable Aubree Miller returns as Cindel, whose father, mother, and brother are immediately killed by marauders during an attack on the Ewok village. She and Wicket (Warwick Davis) escape and meet a grouchy hermit named Noa, played by Walter Brimley.

One of the improvements is that the villains, while being essentially something out of Power Rangers, are for more enjoyable than any Gorax monster, and the Ewoks, as annoying as they were in the previous made-for-TV movie, are reduced to just Wicket. Brimley is surprisingly enjoyable to watch as well; he provides an ounce of humor and humanity in a movie that for the most part lacks it. This movie is still by no means good, with visual effects looking more like something out of The Giant Claw than something out of Star Wars, and this movie feels more like Willow or Labyrinth, which, depending on whom you ask, is a good or bad quality.

11. The Clone Wars
The animated film from 2008 that spawned the equally difficult-to-watch animated show, this is one of the most pointless films in the entire franchise. With lame animation and boring sequences, this is an entry that should undoubtedly be skipped. The powerful voice of Christopher Lee could not save this movie from clunky action and cringe-worthy stereotypes that make Jar Jar Binks seem politically correct.

10. Attack of the Clones
I remember initially being excited in 2002 at how much (I thought) this movie was an improvement over the previous episode, The Phantom Menace. I've since watched it again (and again) and saw just how wrong I was. Truth be told, there's not much of a difference between Episode I and Episode II. There's less Jar Jar Binks here, so that's a good start. And Christopher Lee adds a great deal of respectability here as the villain. We see Samuel L. Jackson fight with his BAMF purple lightsaber, and there's an epic climactic battle that's part Gladiator, part Braveheart. And who can forget that MTV Best Fight-winning duel between Yoda and Count Dooku? I haven't even mentioned Ewan McGregor's hair.

Still, this movie is bad, plain and simple. Lucas' dialogue for a very horny Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is among his worst. The chemistry between Christensen and Natalie Portman is forced and awkward. (Portman is an Oscar-winning actress and among the best there is, and even she couldn't effectively deliver the dreadful dialogue in a believable way.) There are far fewer sets here; instead there's the ubiquitous green screen. Attack of the Clones is probably the worst of the major live-action Star Wars releases.

9. The Phantom Menace 
Episode I, the most anticipated film of the 20th century, was also one of cinema's great disappointments. Much ink has already been spilled about what did not work with this movie: Jake Lloyd's performance as a young Anakin Skywalker, Jar Jar Binks, and a whole host of issues. Fans over the years have tried to "fix" the mistakes in this movie, with the first being cleverly called "The Phantom Edit," but even those are bad.

That being said, this movie is at least better than Attack of the Clones, regardless of what most people say. Why? For one, there's the climactic duel between the Sith lord Darth Maul (Ray Park) and the two Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Qui-Gon Jin (Liam Neeson), set the tune of John Williams' perfect "Duel of Fates" theme. Yoda is still a puppet (until he was changed in later Blu-Ray editions for some reason to CGI). There are sets, too, and you'd be surprised at how much that matters.

Fans morphed into bullies when they treated Lloyd, then a young boy, as if he had utterly ruined their lives. The Daily Beast's article on Jake Lloyd's fall is one of the most depressing articles on Hollywood and fame I have ever read.

8. Spark of Rebellion
The 2014 44-minute animated television movie was the start of the animated series called Rebels. With its opening line ("The Jedi knights are all but destroyed..."), it starts with the pessimism of Revenge of the Sith but quickly shifts to the adventurous and optimistic feeling of A New Hope. And who says that opening line? None other than Darth Vader, and the audience is lucky enough to be able to hear James Earl Jones' voice again in his most famous role. He warns a nefarious-looking individual identified as the Inquisitor about the "children of the Force," and that if they do not join the Empire, they are to be destroyed. It's not the best cameo ever, but it is nevertheless fantastic to hear his voice again.

Speaking of voices, from here, much of the villains are predictably voiced by Brits, lecturing subjects of the "Em-piyah" and ordering them about. With animation, this goofy dialogue and exaggerated physical movement is more tolerable than in the live-action films. We meet a young boy named Ezra (voiced by Taylor Gray) who is sort of a hybrid of Luke and Han, an orphan strong with the Force but also an arrogant "street rat" and unfortunately one of the most annoying, bland characters in the series.

The characteristics are enough to remind audiences that the franchise often likes to recycle, as is also the case here with speed race chases, TIE Fighter fights, and goofy dialogue about light speed. Spark of Rebellion has its humorous moments, but at times is just as implausible as any other Star Wars movie, with a villain who cheats death way too often, Stormtroopers who can't shoot straight, and heroes who are way too lucky. Still, the animation is impressive, and it's nice to see other elements of the Expanded Universe. Starting a series that would also feature voice performances from Freddie Prinze, Jr., Jason Isaacs, David Oyelowo, and Star Wars alumni Frank Oz, Billy Dee Williams, and Anthony Daniels, it's a recommendable and fun short film.

7. Revenge of the Sith
In my original review of The Force Awakens, I wrote that Revenge of the Sith was the superior of the two. I was wrong. Revenge of the Sith, the darkest of the films, was a step in the right direction after two missteps, utilizing a necessary bleakness to a set of stories that often are overly happy. This also features the best acting of the prequel trilogy. Hayden Christensen is not exactly Marlon Brando, but he improved enough in time. Portman also gives her best performance of the three movies, even if her dialogue is atrocious. Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine gives a tremendous (if not over-the-top) performance, seducing young Anakin to the Dark Side. Jackson gives a good send-off, and McGregor is fantastic as always.

But especially compared to The Force Awakens, Revenge of the Sith often is a CGI mess, covered with awful humor that falls flat. Many times it's boring, much more boring than the following films. The villains (aside from Palpatine) are also disappointing. Christopher Lee's Count Dooku is killed off early in the film. General Grieveous is probably the dullest of all the bad guys. And instead of seeing Darth Vader as we know him for much of the movie, he doesn't appear until the end in one of cinema's most disappointing cameos.

Still, this is one of the most powerful and disturbing of the franchise. The scenes of Anakin and the clones' betrayal of the Jedi is masterfully captured by Lucas and crew. Anakin's murder of younglings is especially heartbreaking, as it is reminiscent of the Sandy Hook massacre.

Dark, yes, but this was surely the best of the prequel trilogy.

6. The Force Awakens
Yes, there are legitimate complaints against this film: it has numerous plot holes, it is filled with nostalgia problems, and it is almost painfully unoriginal. I think I actually enjoyed watching the three trailers more than this much-anticipated film. The characters are awesome, but here too there are problems: It's nice that there is a tough-as-nails female protagonist, but J.J. Abrams et al made her too flawless--she not only is as good a pilot as Han Solo, but can also defeat a Jedi trained not only by Luke Skywalker but also Snoke.

But The Force Awakens also reignited in me my childhood fascination with this franchise and made me want to revisit all the novels, video games, and comic books of my youth. John Williams' score, particularly Rey's theme, is his best in years. There is also a bit of thought behind it: the depressing reality of getting up right after the events of Return of the Jedi to fight a permanent war, or that Kylo Ren represents the bigotry prevalent still in many Millennials for example. Smart stuff, actually.

The Force Awakens was given a pass by many critics and fans who were thrilled that it wasn't a repeat of some of the prequel movies. But ultimately, it was still a very enjoyable film.

5. Rogue One

Rogue One is the Star Wars movie that could. The first in the series' anthology stories, this was the tale nobody cared about, and yet was much better than the highly hyped Force Awakens. The special effects are spectacular, the tension is real, and this is practically the only Star Wars movie that recognizes that the second word in the franchise's title has important weight to it. There's true delight in not only seeing familiar faces from the original trilogy (like Vader and, somewhat controversially, Grand Moff Tarkin), but also the prequel trilogy (like Jimmy Smitts as Bail Organa). Its most notable flaw, however, is the lack of character development. While Ben Mendelsohn as the villainous Director Krennic hits just about every note right, and Alan Tudyk as K2SO provides plentiful comic relief, there is not much depth to many of the other characters. Perhaps there didn't need to be, as this was only a standalone film with no planned sequel.

4. The Last Jedi
Screw the fans! This is the best one Lucasfilm has made in a long time. This movie, as many have said, doesn't care about your Snoke theory, or your brilliant ideas about who Rey's parents are. It does its own thing. There is respect for what has come before it, but there's also a sense of urgency in trying to avoid letting the series become stale. Rian Johnson, who will direct a new Star Wars trilogy that will likely feature entirely new characters, has been taking a beating for writing and directing what apparently is one of the most controversial in the series. Why? I still don't quite know. Maybe, as some have speculated, it's because people (by people I mean racist, sexist people) are opposed to how these newer films are more diverse. Maybe it's because people have thought Johnson deviated too much from the established canon and precedents. Maybe it's because they really hate porgs. I don't know.

Like The Force Awakens before it, there are problems: Some things are tied up too quickly, there's too much dues ex machina, and some segments drag on too long and are too unnecessary. Nothing is perfect. But Luke Skywalker has come full circle and is now the Obi-Wan character, and Mark Hamill is great to watch. Carrie Fisher gives a fantastic final performance. Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, and Kylo Ren are terrific, Kylo in particular. Here's how Alison Willmore at Buzzfeed describes the character: "Vader was an epic villain. Kylo was a kid who started idolizing his infamous grandfather because his parents were too busy to pay him enough attention, and even as a man he holds onto to Vader's burnt-out helmet like a teenage outcast hoarding Axis memorabilia left behind by the generation no one talks about at family reunions." Like The Force Awakens, there often is a lot of intelligent symbolism here.

So I will repeat: this is the best Star Wars movie in a long time.

3. Return of the Jedi
What can I say? I like Ewoks (at least the ones that appear here and not on television). Like The Empire Strikes Back before it, while it has a boring second act, this entry, the final in the original trilogy, introduces us to iconic characters (e.g. Jabba the Hutt, Emperor Palpatine) while adding depth to the characters we've fallen in love with. In Darth Vader, audiences witness the final stage in a six-part story arc that offered the best example of a tragic hero's rise and downfall (and redemption). Ian McDiarmid's Palpatine is (as with Revenge of the Sith) occasionally over the top but also terrifying. And Denis Lawson finally gets to use his own voice as Wedge Antilles, one of fans' favorite minor characters. (Lawson is also the uncle of Ewan McGregor, who played the younger Obi-Wan Kenobi.)

This is about as good a conclusion to a trilogy as there has been, though my only advice is to do yourself a favor and find a copy of the original 1983 ending, not the nauseating changed edition from the late 90s.

2. The Empire Strikes Back
This is the film that famously elevated the franchise away from simply a hugely entertaining blockbuster and into some serious stuff. Whether it's the introduction of Yoda, the powerful brass of John Williams' "Imperial March" theme, or that immortal twist, this film is a classic. It's not, however, as perfect as everyone says it is. Of the original three, it arguably moves at the slowest pace, and in a post-Harvey Weinstein, #MeToo world, watching Han basically sexually assault Leia and then Lando's creepy advances toward her are really awful to watch. And Leia kisses her Luke...only for us to find out in Return of the Jedi that they're siblings.

If you can get past all that, you'll love The Empire Strikes Back. There's an exciting battle in snow in the first act, a daring chase through an asteroid field, Boba Fett (everyone's favorite secondary character), possibly the best lightsaber duel, and iconic lines throughout. I don't blame people for saying this is the one they like the most, I just don't agree with them. For I think the best Star Wars movie is...

1. Star Wars (aka A New Hope)
I don't care what anyone says; nothing beats the original. A New Hope is better than The Empire Strikes Back. This one has far more wonder and magic than any after it. It's true that the dialogue is at its most wooden, with whiny lines about power converters and fast ships. But there's just something there that the others don't have.

This is a motion picture unlike any before or since. Its mixture of mythology, science fiction, groundbreaking special effects, history, politics, that awesome musical score, and old-fashioned fun must have felt like a breath of fresh air in the cynical late 70s. That opening scrawl, C-3PO and R2D2 lost in the desert, the introduction of the Jedi and the Force, Vader and that iconic voice by James Earl Jones (and thank goodness not the original), Han and Chewbacca, Peter Cushing as Tarkin, Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and all those unforgettable lines (like "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope").

George Lucas nearly got himself killed making his passion project. After a more mature science fiction flick called THX-1138 and a successful nostalgia picture called American Graffiti, he could have played it safe and direct films more similar to those of his mentor, Francis Ford Coppola or his buddies Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma, both of whom didn't understand the movie when he screened it for them. (But who did? Steven Spielberg, who predicted it would be the most successful movie of all time.) Exhausted, Lucas fired his editors when the space battles weren't fast enough. He took chance after chance about a story that featured basically a dog that walks on two legs and wizards with laser swords.

And the final product has so much energy that it is not surprising in the slightest that the franchise has lasted forty years. Should it last for forty more? Probably not. Star Wars is not SNL, it's not Marvel. But for the time being, Lucasfilm can keep 'em coming. 

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Star Wars Nostalgia

Star Wars percolates with nostalgia. In fact, the only essential problem with some of the most recent Star Wars films is that they are too nostalgic.

The original definition of nostalgia was as a form of melancholy. Indeed, the word itself is comprised from the Greek roots of “homecoming” and “pain.” Considering the mythological tropes Star Wars has employed, this is worthy of our understanding.

Fortunately, for Star Wars fans, nostalgic items lean more towards homecoming than pain, and luckily there are a plethora of books, games, toys, and other items for every Star Wars fan out there to think back on good times.

Though some of the following list aren't exactly equivalent to Orson Welles' Rosebud, they are, I think, treasure none the less (and some are quite expensive). As we patiently await the December release of the newest Star Wars flick from Lucasfilm, take a moment to think back on some of these items. Below are some nostalgia items for any Star Wars fan out there:

Kenner's Toy Millenium Falcon (1978)

Fans of Netflix's Stranger Things, a show seeped in 80s nostalgia, saw the character Eleven telepathically playing with one of these toys from Kenner, which has sold hundreds of millions of Star Wars toys since 1977.

The many Generation X Star Wars fans out there most likely saw this 53-centimeter toy as youngsters, and there's probably a high number of them who played with it. The commercial alone is likely to take fans back to their childhood. “Nice landing, Han Solo!” one of the kids shouts. “Come on, Chewbacca,” the other replies. “Stormtroopers are coming!”

Toys like these could be worth loads of money these days.

Princess Leia Action Figure (1984)

Also from Kenner, this action figure features Leia dressed in her Endor forest outfit, complete with a removable helmet, poncho, and blaster. The action figure was re-released along with many others in the late 1990s as the Special Edition films were being released in cinemas.

Star Wars only recently embraced the idea that female characters can be just as tough, if not tougher, than the boys. Case in point being characters in The Force Awakens: Daisy Ridley as the the lead, a lady Stormtrooper commander, and Carrie Fisher's Leia changing from a princess to a general were all featured. Leia in the original films ranged from a damsel in distress to a slave in a medal bikini, so she isn't exactly (at least through modern lens) a feminist icon. But in Return of the Jedi from 1983, she was a character of grit and leadership. This action figure embodies that. 

Vlix Toy (1988)

Are you a fan of getting a whopping $6,000? Are you one of the few people on the planet who have an unopened Vlix toy? Then you're in luck. Vlix was a character who appeared in the animated series Droids. This toy is considered to be the Holy Grail of Star Wars memorabilia because so there are very few of them around these days.

Full disclosure: I've never seen the animated series Droids or Ewoks, though I have seen (and don't recommend) the two made-for-TV Ewoks specials. I therefore can't really comment much more on who Vlix is or how special this toy is meant to be. And since it didn't go far from Brazil (the only country that released the toy), it might be challenging to truly classify this as a piece of “nostalgia.”

That being said, for die-hard fans of the series (and especially the rich ones who have a bit of Indiana Jones in their DNA), tracking down this item might well be worth the time and dime.

Heir to the Empire Novel (1991)

There have been dozens of Star Wars novels since the novelization of the original film all the way back in 1977, but none are as terrific as Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, the first of his trilogy.

Taking place only a few years after the original trilogy concluded, this series reunites our characters in a fight against the diminishing Galactic Empire, taken control by the malevolent and blue-skinned Grand Admiral Thrawn, who teams up with a Dark Jedi named Joruus Cbaoth to try and resurrect the Empire.

The novel became a best seller and can be recommended for fans of most ages. 

As a side note, the 1978 novel Splinter in the Mind's Eye was written by Alan Dean Foster and commissioned by Lucas to serve partly as a framework for a small-budget sequel if the first film wasn't a hit. The Los Angeles Times has called this book the most influential of the Expanded Universe. 

Shadows of the Empire Soundtrack (1996)

In 1996, Lucasfilm, in anticipation for the release of the Special Edition the following year and then the start of George Lucas' prequel trilogy, released a multimedia project titled Shadows of the Empire, a tale of Luke Skywalker et al tracking down the carbonite casing of Han Solo in between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

The project involved a novel by Steve Perry, comics by John Wagner, a Nintendo 64 and computer game, and a group of new toys. But the element of the project that was the most impressive was the score written by Joel McNeely to be used for the audio book and games.

An epic and old-fashioned juxtaposition of intense choral arrangements and even a waltz (a first and only for the franchise), McNeely did a phenomenal job of channeling Star Wars composer John Williams without copying him. This music might be the best piece of Star Wars that most fans have never heard of.

Knights of the Old Republic Game (2003)

Released by LucasArts, the now defunct media publisher of Lucasfilm, Knights of the Old Republic, the role-playing video game for Xbox, is still regarded as one of the greatest video games of all time. As a matter of fact, it ranked in the top 100 according to Time a few years ago.

Taking place several thousand years before the formation of the Galactic Empire, characters can even make decisions that will align them with the Dark Side or the Light Side of the Force. The game was followed by several sequels and won a host of awards.

Fortunately for us all, there are more Star Wars films in the making, and who knows how many more games, books, toys, etc. What will the nostalgia items of the future be? The Chewbacca mask made famous by a laughing mom in her car? The Death Star Christmas tree light? Little BB-8s?

Time will surely tell, but the Force is surely strong with many of them.

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens

There has been an awakening...have you felt it? Those words, terrifyingly spoken by a character we know now to be Snoke, were the introductory lines we heard right after Thanksgiving 2014 in the first of three terrific trailers for the first Star Wars film in a decade (not including the not-so-well-received animated film from 2008) and the one featuring most of the original stars since 1983. Fans have indeed felt it: Episode VII made more than $14 million dollars alone in its first day of release, and it will undoubtedly be the film of the year in that sense. But does it deservedly rank as the single greatest Star Wars film ever, as Rotten Tomatoes claims? That's a bit more complicated.

By now many fans know that producer Kathleen Kennedy, George Lucas' hand-picked choice to lead Lucasfilm in the post-Lucas era, convinced J. J Abrams, the man who helped reboot the Star Trek franchise and who initially turned down the chance to direct The Force Awakens, to direct it when she asked him, "Who is Luke Skywalker?" Luke (Mark Hamill) does appear, as does his sister Leia (Carrie Fisher), but of the three original stars, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) appears the most (and receives top billing), but even he takes a bit of a back seat to the three newer protagonists: Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron. So the makers deserve enormous credit for bringing back the original three plus, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, but also credibility for assembling an incredible list of some of the most talented newer actors: John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley (in her film debut as Rey, the lead), Lupita Nyong'o, Gwendoline Christie, Domhnall Gleeson, Adam Driver, and Andy Serkis. Filling out the acting list is Swedish legend Max von Sydow and Abrams' frequent collaborator Simon Pegg. Even if The Force Awakens were a bad movie, it would be worth seeing it simply to see all these actors.

The Force Awakens takes place decades after the Empire fell in The Return of the Jedi. Out of the Empire's ashes comes the First Order, an authoritarian government in conflict with the Republic and its only Jedi, Luke Skywalker. Skywalker, however, goes into a bit of a depression after a particularly tragic failure and goes into a self-imposed exile. Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is sent on a mission to retrieve part of a map to Skywalker but is hunted by the First Order's Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a Darth Vader "fan-boy", and General Hux (Dumhnall Gleeson), two sort of sibling rivals for the love and attention of the mysterious Dark Side leader Snoke (Andy Serkis). In a powerful opening sequence, Stormtrooper FN-2187 (played by John Boyega and renamed Finn) goes into a Saving Private Ryan-style state of shock and has had enough of the First Order's violence. After Kyle Ren captures Poe in an attempt to retrieve the map to hunt down Skywalker, Finn breaks out with Poe and escapes to the desert planet Jakku, where they become separated. Poe's droid BB-8 survives the hunt and finds Rey (Daisy Ridley), a talented scavenger, and eventually Finn, and then the three of them become hunted by the First Order. They escape in the only "piece of junk" ship they can find: the Millennium Falcoln. But it's original owners (you know who) want it back, and sure enough they are successful. As you can see, while this movie contains maybe a bit too many parallels to the original trilogy, it's a complex but not too crowded and complicated story line and an exciting one.  

The author of a Lucas biography, Dale Pollock, is just about the only person who has read the outlines for all nine of Lucas' original stories and has said that this trilogy is the best. But as Vanity Fair reported earlier this year, Disney (the new owner of Lucasfilm) and Kennedy decided to go in a different direction. It would be interesting to see just how different Lucas' version and the final version are, but my hunch is that going back to the genesis of these stories, our original heroes were always meant to be supporting roles in this trilogy. Hamill even hinted at this in an interview with Gene Siskel back in the 80s promoting The Return of the Jedi.

There are a lot of grand moments here. The reunion of Han and Leia, separated and not particularly interested in each other anymore, is a powerful and touching moment, one of the best in the film. But there was one scene in particular that made me fairly angry. It's a scene that is executed with enough gravitas and emotion to be an impressive one, but it's one that left me disturbed and puzzled. That's sort of the basic element of this movie: it's so well-crafted that it's difficult to dislike, but it's not a masterpiece. To use Star Wars vernacular, Abrams has learned much, but he is not a Jedi yet. The Force Awakens may not look as breathtakingly fresh as those first films from 1977-1983, but it still looks like much more painstaking effort was put into it than the films from 1999-2005 were. Still, while The Force Awakens is far superior to The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones, I couldn't help but like Revenge of the Sith better, though I suspect I'm in the minority. But here's one aspect that I think most folks will agree with me: the villains here are not nearly as interesting as Star Wars villains of the past. A Star Wars movie is sometimes as strong as its villains, and whereas the films of old featured Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Grand Moff Tarkin, Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt, Darth Maul, and Count Dooku, the strongest villain here (Kylo Ren) is essentially Vader-light, with his only truly impressive moments being his frightening temper tantrums. The Palpatine-like character is Snoke, in another motion-capture performance by Serkis (who appeared in similarly filmed roles in The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, The Adventures of Tintin, and the Planet of the Apes films). (Serkis' company, The Imaginarium Studios, which focuses on motion-capture film making, has provided consultation for Godzilla, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and The Force Awakens.) But despite how impressive the technology has looked in some of the movies mentioned, Serkis gives Snoke a menacing voice but a visual that looks dated and not consistent with the tenacity of the rest of the film. While Snoke looks silly, the rest of the film has a look of determination. Abrams and team deliver on their promise to feature more sets, practical effects, make-up design, and puppetry, using what seems to be a limited amount of computer-generated imagery. What CGI that does appear is mostly well-done by Industrial Light & Magic.    

But all in all, there were only three moments in this film that made me completely thrilled: the first time we see Han and Chewie, the first time we see Leia, and the first time we see Luke. Some moments, though, are actually funny, with Boyega, Isaac, and Ford providing most of the humor. Finn enthusiastically hopes to storm the enemy's base with no plan. When confronted by Solo on this lack of preparation, Finn excitedly tells him that they will use the Force. Solo is not impressed. "That's not how the Force works," he grumpily tells him. C-3PO (with a red arm for some reason) and R2D2 appear, but BB-8 does more than a fine job standing in as the new it-droid; he even gives Finn a thumbs up, certifying audiences' love for him with his puppy-dog eyes and WALL-E characteristics. The droid was created by Disney Research to be a practical part of interacting with the actors, and he is part of the unique combination of characters new and old, a combination that got just the right amount. And this movie is a sign that perhaps the times are a-changin', because The Force Awakens is a Star Wars movie with a feminist bent: it's the first time we see a woman fight with a lightsaber, Princess Leia is now General Leia, and there's even a lady Stormtrooper (Captain Phasma, played by Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie).

I'm shifting back and forth between criticism and praise, so let me be clear: This is a good movie. Abrams' team (especially the production designers Rick Carter and Darren Gilford, costume designer Michael Kaplan, and creature-shop head Neal Scanlan) have created a Star Wars movie that more or less looks like what a Star Wars movie should look like, shunning the excessive CGI of a decade ago.

But is this the best Star Wars movie ever? No. Is it even the third of fourth best? No to that as well. But by my count, there will be a total of about 20 Star Wars movies (three trilogies plus three stand-alone films to be released within several years, as well as about six spin-offs and specials, including the infamous Holiday Special), so fifth best out of about 20, I assume, ain't bad. Ultimately, if you like Star Wars, you will like The Force Awakens, and I am confident that the next two will be entertaining escapism as well. The Force is strong with this one.        

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