I could almost guarantee that if TLJ’s story beats exactly matched expectations of what people were speculating, many people would have accused the film of being predictable and boring.
I would have settled for a competently told story, and one that spent less time on pointless sub-plots, useless characters, & cartoony gags, and more focus on the critical themes surrounding our hero’s struggles and growth as she takes the next step of her journey.
Because there never were any cartoony gags in the OOT.
Nope, not even close to the extent of the gags that were placed throughout TLJ. The only thing in the OOT that feels like a “gag” is the Tarzan yell in ROTJ, which fortunately is brief and not in-your-face, like the TLJ stuff.
Anyway, the gags are just one aspect of what’s wrong with the movie.
Forgetting Wicket hitting himself in the head with his own sling?
Cartoon physics when Paploo steals the speeder bike?
The slapstick only got worse in the SE’s. The droid in Mos Eisely hitting the other droid for example. Or the Jawas falling off the Ronto.
I dont remember saying that the ROTJ gags (and they were much less prominent than TLJ) were a good idea in the first place. In fact, I don’t think i’ve ever heard anyone say that, so it’s irrelevant to the current discussion.
Not only did RJ insert stupid gags into the movie, but he actually spent time on each one, and made them stand out apart from whatever was going on in the scene. For example, the Chewie roasting the porg scene and the BB-8 slot-machine joke.
And again, this is not the worst thing about the movie. They just add insult to injury after the pointless subplots / characters and lack of any real growth within the main character, just to name a couple…