Ok I give up what is so bad about Return of the Jedi?

[Doctor Who?]

Every time Star wars is talked about lately people seem to talk about what an awful movie Return of the Jedi is. In fact i would go so far as to say some people seem to think it is the worst of the movies.  i don't get it I always thought it was just as good as A New Hope and The Empire Strikes back.  Am I missing something?  Get the SFX get bad and I never noticed,was Ford sleepwalking,did the final showdown between Luke and Vader let people down?
Someone please tell me what I am missing.

[RoninFox]

I never thought it was a bad movie, but there are parts of it that keep me from putting it on the same level as Empire.  Mainly the Ewoks.  The Ewok scenes would have worked so much better if they'd taken out the cute and left them as Wookies like in the original story Lucas envisioned.

[Compound]

Every time Star wars is talked about lately people seem to talk about what an awful movie Return of the Jedi is. In fact i would go so far as to say some people seem to think it is the worst of the movies.  i don't get it I always thought it was just as good as A New Hope and The Empire Strikes back.  Am I missing something?  Get the SFX get bad and I never noticed,was Ford sleepwalking,did the final showdown between Luke and Vader let people down?
Someone please tell me what I am missing.

Ewoks.
Boba Fett gong out like a punk. Jabba's death was a bit "meh" too.
Ewoks.
A second Death Star. Way to tap that well again.
Ewoks.
Did I mention Ewoks?

Seriously, Lucas seemed to have dropped the ball with a lot of the plot threads from Empire to Return. OMG, Han's been kidnapped! Oh. He's free now. Why is Leia wearing a bikini? That seems random. Hey! Boba Fett! This fight will be... Oh, it's over.  Back to Yoda! Man it'll be great to see what a Jedi master can do! Oh. He's dying. And now he's dead. Another Death Star? Endor? Where the hell is that? Wait a sec, they're being helped by frigging teddy bears? And they're sending Lando to fight the Death Star? What? And the Executor gets taken out by one guy screwing up? Geez. More frigging Ewoks! He tosses him over a railing? That's it? That the big dramatic defeat of the Emperor?! What's the matter, George? Couldn't you get a bus up there to randomly run him over? Oh, and now the Ewoks are playing music. That's just great. Thanks a lot.

Note: I may not agree with the complaints listed above, but I listened to them enough during the early 90s (during the Star Wars resurgence) to know what they were.

[mrbasehart]

Is it me, or could Boba just jetpack his way out of the sarlac? It seems he would've had at least 10,000 years to find a way out at least. 

[RoninFox]

Oh right, forgot the Lando thing.  Lando flying the Falcon at the end I actually liked, what I didn't like is that they wussed out and kept him alive to keep up the megahappy ending.  Lando's storyline would have been perfectly ended in an act of sacrifice to redeem himself for his past betrayal completely, giving up his life for the people who took him in and trusted him again.  Redemption was the biggest theme of the movie, and Lando should have been integral to that, moreso than he was.

[Bob]

I still can watch it and enjoy it, don't get me wrong.   But the ewoks are my personal deeeeep huuuuuurting.

[RVR II]

I still can watch it and enjoy it, don't get me wrong.   But the ewoks are my personal deeeeep huuuuuurting.

I'd MUCH Rather Watch Episodes 4, 5, & 6 than 1. 2, & 3

[Tripe]

Not enough emperor. And then the prequels gave us too much of a crappy emperor, kind of like they did with Vader.

[dalem]

Okay, I'm gonna sound like I'm channeling the spirit of bratpop here, but this is a topic that really pulls my string.

- It's cheap.
- Costumes are bad.
- FX are terrible.
- Matte paintings are embarrassing.
- Story is a retread of the first movie (Phantom Menace i.e. Return of Return of the Jedi did the same story much better).
- Lighting in the throne room is ridiculous (black on black next to black behind black in front of black - no one could make that look good, and no one did).
- Magic marker FX on Empie's cowl.
- Emperor is annoying and cloying, not menacing.
- Saber fight is totally uninteresting after ESB's.
- Muppets look stupid.
- Salacious Crumb.  Salacious Crumb.
- Acting is bad even for a SW movie.
- Ewoks.
- Ewoks fighting stormtroopers.
- Ewoks winning against stormtroopers.
- Action theme music is just glommed from previous themes.
- Big space battle undecipherable - inexcusable editing leads to things like A-Wings getting destroyed and then undestroyed.
- "From a certain point of view".
- "I'm with you too!"
- "Laaaaaapti Nek"
- Boba Fett gets stooged - might as well have had him go out with a pie in the facemask.
- Not a single dialog reference to having already destroyed one giant one-of-a-kind planet killing space station just a couple of years before when they all met, either for humor, or exposition, or... or anything.

Etc.  It's just a real stinkbomb.

-dale

[MrTorso]

Ok I give up what is so bad about Return of the Jedi?

Yeah I know that is not from Jedi but still....

[Bob]

AHHHH, dude, that is worse the Chewbaca's stepfather's gumming in the holiday special.

[MrTorso]

AHHHH, dude, that is worse the Chewbaca's stepfather's gumming in the holiday special.

[Bob]

AHHHH, dude, that is worse the Chewbaca's stepfather's gumming in the holiday special.

Well then, I stand corrected.    Please excuse me while I step out to gouge out my own eyes.

[RVR II]

Well then, I stand corrected.    Please excuse me while I step out to gouge out my own eyes.

Here! Lemme Help..

[Thrifty]

It got retconned in as a bad movie after The Phantom Menace came out.