Favorite and best are two very different things. As an adult i realize sitting down and rewatching the films on dvd that empire is about a hundred times better than jedi.
There are many many cringe worthy moments in rotj that i never noticed before now. It is a very flawed film and far from perfect. In the same way as rewatching last crusade i realized how inferior it was to raiders. Still i would take jedi anyday over the prequels, the gout is the only way i watch the trilogy.
The only indiana jones flms i watch are raiders and last crusade. I sometimes watch doom out of nostalgia but despite a couple parts i like it is thrown out of my viewing list along with crystal skull. At least i own temple of doom. Fuck crystal numbskull that is not even on my dvd shelf and i gave away the destroyed 2004 version of the star wars trilogy to my sister in law's nieces.
There are those that think Revenge of the Shit is better than Return of the Jedi. I still think Jedi is better than the 3 prequels, Mark Hamill is a better actor than Hayden etc.
To me the biggest sin of Jedi is it has Han Solo standing around the whole movie really with nothing to do and no real devlopment to his character from empire. And Ford looks bored out of his skull. No pun intended,lol.
It is basically a Luke Skywalker movie.
Like the magazine cinescape article by that Altman guy said Jedi was just a rehash of a new hope just like last crusade was a rehash of raiders. Basically lucas ran out of ideas years ago. Crystal Skull is a rehash of raiders and a rehash of a rehash of raiders,lol.
Would the trilogy have been better if it was split into two trilogies as originally intended. Then you have the sequel trilogy that does not have Luke except a cameo as an old man and the originall prequels being 12 films. Lucas shortened it down to nine then again six.
The second death Star was a very bad idea and i agree with Kasden on that one. If the budget was not an issue the duel would have been on the imperial home world in the emporers court on Had Abbadon, coruscant was a 90's EU creation.
Another reason why jedi is the weakest of the three is Lucas was very tired he wanted to tie up all the lose ends in an attempt to save his sanity and his marriage according to some written accounts. He basically took the 4 remaining films and made them into a single one. Made Leia the sister etc. Had Luke confront the emperor much earlier than originally intended had Lukes training as a jedi shortened.
The prequels being as bad as they are reveal star wars 1977 and the Empire Strikes Back 1980 versions to be much better films. Whereas the prequels make Return of the Jedi 1983 version a worse film.
The good Anakin in the prequels is never shown. The good man who turned bad and had to be redeemed in rotj. It makes the redemption of anakin skywalker meaningless because there was nothing to be redeemed in the first place. That is why i imagine an alternate prequel story based on the available salient plot points from the original trilogy more in line with the oot and pretend the prequels don't exist. The prequels ruin the very enjoyment of the original trilogy.
While were on the subject in hindsight i also would have liked a darker more adult Return of the Jedi that pays off Empire Strikes Back in a much larger way. There is no fanfiction novel or fanedit in existance that does this and it might be a waste of time to try. Ending the original trilogy with a teddy bear picnic is a little stupid, imho.