Here's the thing.
Today if you think of "Star Wars" one of the first things that will pop in to you head is "Legos" and action figures. Lucas was quite brilliant is doing breakthrough work of merchandising "Star Wars", more so than Disney did. All of that merchandising, especially today, is focused on children.
There is a branch in to the Young Adult market with the large book series offerings (which I have not read, I'm sure there are some real gems in there, I imagine most of them are just drek).
"Star Wars" is not as much a Space Opera universe with a diverse plot line and rich history as it is a brand that is managed for the marketplace.
Peter Jackson's LOTR movies are, simply, amazing. I look forward to 'The Hobbit'. But what makes them amazing is the source material as much as the execution of putting them on screen. Jackson's attention to detail is part of what make those movies so good -- details he pulled from Tolkien's work.
You'll notice that Lucas' changes to the 'Star Wars' saga has never been about the storytelling itself, the characters, the plot. It's been about "the look". About the presentation. The 'Star Wars' movies are beautiful, all of them. They have a look about them, a scope that makes them really incredible.
I'm old enough today to see the flaws with the originals, despite the eye candy; revolutionary breakthrough eye candy. But there's heart in those movies, heart that doubling the number of X-Wings in the last battle can't cloud -- or can't fix as in the new movies.
In 'A New Hope', the attack on the Death Star(tm) was a last ditch effort, it was full force, and people died. People that you as a viewer may not of cared about, but people on the screen certainly did. Every loss brought the Death Star closer to Yavin. Dangerous work, and you were in the thick of it.
Luke loses his best friend, Biggs, in the trenches of the Death Star. An aspect of the battle that wasn't quite like "Beggars canyon back home."
Later on, in ESB, and Jedi, the battles were getting bigger, but more and more impersonal. Oh look, yet another rebel fighter is destroyed, another life gone, but, eh, no big deal. Faceless drone. Nobody cares. And, of course, the Empire is completely unsympathetic -- we care even less about them. They're clones for crying out loud.
In Jedi you had the Millennium Falcon, Wedge (following said Falcon), and Everyone Else. Nothing people dying in flames -- but, beyond an admirals sigh, nobody cared. Nobody mourned for them. They cared more for the Bothan spies.
In Episode 1, it opened with a bang. Two Jedi. Unleashed, powerful Jedi. Killers. Apparently thugs (sent to enforce contracts). Two lightsabers in a gas filled room. They dispatch the droids and carve a hole in a blast door, showing was a lightsaber is really capable of. But their enemies, even more faceless than clones. Droids. Masses of nothing, stupid, "it's OK to blows these guys up because they're robots and not 'people' and not offend the parents of our audience" droids. Like the GI Joe the TV cartoon, or A-Team (the TV show, not the movie -- the movie was great fun). Everything gets blown up, nobody dies.
All the heart is gone. All the enemies plastic or cardboard (whether flesh or not). Did anyone really care about all those Jedi being slaughtered in that field? No, not really. The characters didn't, the Director certainly didn't, why should the audience?
The audience doesn't care, and the movie doesn't encourage them to care, because the audience is 11 years old, and empathy really isn't their strong point at this age, much less really grokking the magnitude of what's actually happening.
Disney is not going to change this. Disney markets to 11 year olds very well. I don't see Spielberg doing "Saving Private Skywalker", or anything else for a mature audience.
And I'm not 11 years old any more, and my 11 year old memories of the original have been long stomped flat by the abominations of the new ones.
So, no, just more Theme Parks, lunch boxes, and action figures. Another franchise targeted at an ever replacing demographic called children, to milk until the teats are chapped and raw. Nothing to see here.
And anyone who hasn't seen the
"Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review" on You Tube is missing out. Yes, its 70m long, but it's SO good.
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