I'm kind of do / kind of don't agree with you CO. On the one hand, I agree that SW is, above all else, simply a fun story, not unlike Raiders of the Lost Ark. In fact, my all-time favourite quote regarding SW is in one of the DVD extras: some movie critic ends his whole analysis of the films by simply saying, "And it's fun... it's fun watching Star Wars." I love that quotation because, to me, it really summarizes what Star Wars is all about.

On the other hand, the movies have always had a lot of ties to mythology (especially Greek myths), and have always dealt with "heavy" issues: tyranny, freedom, death, loss of innocence, etc. I don't think the OT and the PT are different in that respect, except for the fact that the PT perhaps treats these issues with a bit more seriousness which, I agree, is often misplaced.