Yeah, but that's your bad. If you're going to let a permanently sour outlook mar what you just admitted would be a "Balls out fantastic" movie then that's not the movie's fault, that's your inability to take the movie for what it is and find an excuse to justify your disappointment in the previous two movies. Sure, you could blame the filmmakers for your sour outlook on the previous movies, but that's a weak excuse to write off a completely new movie and then dismiss it's triumphs by then going "Well, what about these other two?"

As opposed to the other option of being in denial then, right? Also, by that logic, say my favorite sports team (i.e. the Cubs) who are loaded with talent but have had by all accounts a terrible, disappointing season, and miss the playoffs, but then happen to win their last game. I should just forget about the first 161 games and take solace in their final, albeit meaningless win??

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And I don't think it's at all provable to say audiences now are more retarded and braindead than audiences prior.

While audiences may not be "more retardeder" now than ever before, they definitely have gotten younger. Look what movies make the most money these days. And the gap is widening.

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It's also weird that people who tend to list as their favorite movies popcorn flicks, fantasy flicks and mostly thin, fast moving action adventures are the one pulling this "artistic integrity in the audience" card. I'd buy it a bit more if it was a board dedicated to Godard or Truffaut or Fellini, but on a Star Wars board, the above complaint seems to come off as a little ironic.

I think that's a broad generalization. And we're not talking about Independence Day, we are talking about the OT, which is far from mediocre 'popcorn fluff'. For me it's filmmaking at its best. Sure some stuffed shirt could call me silly for thinking that, but I don't care. To hold the prequels to the standard set by the originals, only to be subsequently disappointed by their crappiness is only natural, not to mention reasonable.