Originally posted by: JediRandy
Or it could be telling the story in a 3 act arc.... where the 2nd act is the darkest one, followed by a "happier" act 3.

I don't think anyone's denying that, Randy. I think they're referring more to the fact that, in a lot of ways, ROTJ feels a bit out of place. Tones can change between "acts", but it can still feel like the same piece of work. The tone develops and changes through Romeo and Juliet, for example, but it never enters a level of silliness that makes you suddenly feel like you're watching something some other author tacked on to the end of it for no apparent reason. And I think that's what the people here are saying.

Personally, I don't see how anybody could have found ESB "too" dark, even as a little kid. Even when I was nine and first saw it, it was immediately my favorite. I loved the fact that the good guys got the crap beaten out of them. It brought out the drama. I loved the fact that the characters were developed more than the action. It was Star Wars with a bit of magic sprinkled onto it to build it up that much more than its predecessor. And it's not with increased action and effects (even though it had that too) like the prequels seem to be completely focused on (dual-lightsaber! Now two lightsabers and Yoda! Now ten-thousand ships and two simultaneous lightsaber duels with three others scattered throughout the movie!). Instead, it got better because it pushed the story along with everything else. ROTJ seemed weaker in comparison because, while it pushed some story farther, it was mostly concerned with pushing effects. It seemed like the story had been pushed about as far as it could, and they were just stretching it as much as possible.