The retooled bar scene in Mos Isley looked great. It benefitted from the additional "lounge lizards" Lucas added. And, the so-called controversial scene where Han Solo shoots Guido in cold blood was cleaned up to reveal that Guido actually shot at Han first, but missed.  The computer animation insertion of Jabba the Hut, however, was awkward and uninteresting. Jabba looked like Tommy Lasorda after he came off his Slim Fast diet and the slug's movement seemed spongy and fake.

    But the greatness of Star Wars: its timeless mythic story about the battle between good and evil, in ourselves and the universe; about predestination and challenging one's fate; and the conflict between a father and his son, still holds up.

    Star Wars itself has beome a Hollywood legend - it forever changed the way movies were made and how special effects can be used to enhance an intergallactic battle.  In fact, it may have been the movie's cataclysmic impact on later Hollywood movies that actually makes STAR WARS' special effects seem less impressive than what I remembered (though Darth Vader seems just as menacing as he did then).  Movies now are so big and the effects so over the top that it would be hard for a 20 year old movie to compete with the blockbusters of today. Or, perhaps, it was that we were so much smaller when we first saw it.

    Sitting in the theatre watching Star Wars took me back to when I was a kid and everything seemed much bigger than it does now - like when you go back to your old elementary school and you're surprised to see how the once gargantuan halls and classrooms seem to have shrunk.  That said, I must admit the enhanced special effects were powerful. Few movie special effects, even in the 1990's, can really compare to the scenes where the Death Star and the planet of Alderaan are blown to bits!

    But like seeing an old friend you haven't run into in years, watching Star Wars again was an experience worth having. In fact, on the way out, we both said how much we wanted to see The Empire Strikes Back - in my opinion, the best in the trilogy. It comes out on February 21, and I'll be there!