Review Detail

It's been so long since I've been able to see the original theatrical cut of this film! Not since the mid-90's, and I'd forgotten the massive changes the 'Special Editions' did to the Jabba's palace and the end celebrations segments. The puppets still look like puppets, but I'd argue these have aged much better than the late 90's CGI of the Special Edition. Such a pleasure to see these again. I doubt the original theatrical could be better looking than what's presented here. On the other hand, the Special Edition also cleaned a lot of the original's more grainy, washed-out look for the colors, so if you're used to the SE you may miss it here.

Surprisingly, the content of the film is largely intact. This is a very conservative edit in a lot of ways, with some but not all of ROTJ's silly moments still here. The pacing has been improved and the minor dialogue excisions are thoughtful, character-driven, and indeed invisible for anyone who hasn't seen this movie 20 times already.

The new opening crawl is better than the original's (at least it doesn't sound like a blurb from TV Guide, now) and the nips and tucks that DonkeyKonga has made add up in the end. A great edit of the classic film, one of the best!