Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

The conclusion of the saga brings the return not only of the titular Jedi, but also of Lucas’s lack of seriousness, as well as his playfulness and naïveté. Though fans don’t want to admit it, the frolicking with the Ewoks was not a misguided diversion or a departure from the intended development of the style. On the contrary, The Empire Strikes Back is the anomaly in Lucas’s fairy-tale space opera due to director Irvin Kershner’s fanfiction approach. If the fifth (originally second) episode, constructed the pillars of Star Wars fandom, then the sixth (third) inevitably arouses the resentment of fans, as the style reverts back to the naïveté of the first film, as it literally states that it is targeted at children and inadvertently undermines everything that is sacred to the fans – an example illustrating all of this is Boba Fett, who is transformed from a cool badass into a ridiculous fool who suffers a belittling and undramatic demise. The greatest hatred has been borne by the cute Ewoks, who have been bumped out of first place on the fans’ hitlist only by Jar Jar Binks. The Ewoks became the personification of the series’ childishness and thus the embodiment of Lucas’s supposed betrayal of his supposedly adult fans. But as frightful as it sounds, if anyone deserves to admonished, it’s Irvin Kershner, who did the worst thing possible – he showed the potential that the Star Wars saga would have had if it hadn’t been in the hands of George Lucas, who always conceived it as a spectacular sci-fi fairy tale for the whole family. (10/11/2015)

Apart from the fateful ending, it's just a childish and terribly stretched borefest with a weak production design, bad effects and long dialogues. In addition, there is almost no editing (a similar flaw from the other old episodes), so we get several minutes-long sequences connected into a long and pseudo-fateful film. Thank God for the new episodes. This is almost laughable and cannot be compared artistically. If it wasn’t for the sentimentality, it would be rated significantly weaker, even considering how long ago it was filmed, because the effects are by far the least of the problems. (11/24/2012)

It’s too bad that Marquand didn’t have his turn until after the brilliant Episode V. In Return of the Jedi, unlike in the preceding episode, Lucas became heavy-handedly involved in this, and his little live Monchhichi almost buried the movie. Although, compared to what Lucas gave us in Episode I, here we get only a tolerable dose of childish lameness, however annoying it is. Compared to the preceding episode, the pace at the beginning of this is overly relaxed while at the end the pace is overly rushed. In any case, this is a respectable end to the original trilogy, although it could (and should!) have been significantly better. (03/12/2005)

Probably the most fairytale-like episode of the existing series of Star Wars. It almost looks as if George Lucas found himself in the effects which brought us Critters, Gremlins, or the legendary series Dinosaurs. All of those monsters and freaks look just as good. But, I have to say that I don’t mind this deviation. On the contrary, I was happy not only because of them, but because of Chewbacca, who is on stage a lot more than usual. And when he isn’t there, you can still hear those odd sounds of his somewhere in the background. And the finale? That’s literally top-notch. It’s a shame that I will never get to know the feelings the fans back then had to have when they finished the movie and then realized they actually didn’t know how it all began and had to wait for it for almost twenty years. (11/04/2015)

With Return of the Jedi, the Star Wars saga reaches its climax, and the film's story takes on the highest quality and consistency. For me, the third (sixth) episode of Star Wars is the best ever made. Everything is perfect, I wouldn't want to repeat myself, but the plot, the special effects, the production design, the music, the costumes and make-up effects are (for their time) flawless. In short, an incredibly spectacular ending to the most famous space saga that deserves one of the brightest spots in cinematic history. (08/21/2014)