I saw Return of the Sith today.
Hm.
It's not that I didn't enjoy it, but my suspension of disbelief will only stretch so far before it snaps back and smacks me in the head.
First let me say there were parts that I loved. Lucas has always been good at realisation of vistas; the space scenes, the cityscapes, the landscapes, all the 'big picture' stuff was marvelous and I lost myself in those bits. I really liked the Wookies homeworld and Corisant all the way through this trilogy has lived for me. There were other things, too, that impressed me - the glimpses of the political intrigues that were the heart of the problems and the rather neat way all the threads were tied up as the stage was set for 'A New Hope' but...

[Potential Spoilers - though I don't think I'm giving too much away.]

- General Grievous was a glaringly obvious plot-device ('we have the technology...')

- the moment of schlock horror near the end had me laughing out loud even though I suspect it was meant to be one of the more emotionally charged parts of the action.

- the 'extras' looked like nothing more than cosplayers at a convention. You know how fangeeks can be so terribly serious yet self-conscious in their roles? Yes, well.

- she was so not carrying close-to-term twins!

... but worst of all was the awful feeling I was witnessing some very clumsy fanfic. Great chunks seemed to be missing from the narrative and tenuous threads of plot were tied together in such a way it left me with the impression the author couldn't think of a better way to fit it all the disparate, though necessary, bits together.

But then again, much as those gaffes pained me they're not the things I'll be remembering. The movie was truly heart-wrenching in places, the tragedy of it was believable. I could see where the Ben Kenobi and Yoda of the original series were formed and their existence there is all the more poignant knowing the backstories.
I don't know why, can't pinpoint the reason, but I felt Yoda was the most real character of them all in RotS. I was empathising freely with the little green CGI dude, and rarely if at all with the majority of the flesh and blood cast (and not at all with that stupid gold 'droid. Gods, he's always annoyed me!)
Eyecandy McDrooly does a very convincing Alec Guinness though and the feathered lizard was soooo cute! I'll definitely be looking out for the action figure of that. : )
Oh, and the tapeworm ballet will keep me amused for days, I'm sure...