S_Matt said:

Star Wars and Jedi do have a juvenile slant and feature "cute" side characters that lend themselves to merchandising, particularly the type aimed at kids.

Oh god, here goes the revisionism of the Old movies again....... Star Wars wasn't made for kids (Hence it was targeted at Comic Con in 1976, as they were all teenagers/early 20's SciFi nerds. If Lucas thought that the merchandising would be a cash cow, they actually would have figures ready to me demand of all of us kiddies for Christmas 1977. I remember having to wait for Christmas '78 to get most of my SW action figures :)

Star Wars is a real gritty movie (Original Version), and alot darker then many of the revisionists give it today. Just to see two dead skeletons at a young age was very shocking to me! Sure it is not as dark as Empire, but its not suppose to be, and it actually pulls off the perfect combination of action, drama and comedy without one dominating the other.

Just watch the final Battle of Yavin, there is one little hint of kiddie himor in there as C3PO stands next to Leia and doesn't say a word! Just watch where Obiwan tells Luke about his father, and C3PO actually tells Luke he is gong to shutdown. That is Lucas telling us it is time for a serious part of the movie, and it is a key part. The movie builds and builds the drama and gets more serious as it goes on. Just because a movie isn't dark for 2 hours doesnt mean it is a kiddy-fest like Jedi comes off as.