Opening weekend, at Paseo Colorado in Pasadena, the theater was fairly full, though certainly not as jam packed as we had expected.

When the 'Lucasfilm, LTD' logo appeared on the screen, some members of the audience clapped and cheered. Megan leaned over to me and said 'there go the nerds.'

And so it begins with the familiar John Williams theme song, the scroll of information to bring us up to speed, and then tossing us right into the middle of a head spinning dogfight in space. Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and R2-D2 battling it out with all kinds of fantastic spaceships and droids.

Let's face it, the special effects are amazing. Lucas can create any environment, any creature, and any character. The outer space battles are 100 light years beyond what they were in 1977.

Back in the day, I used to enjoy finding the matte paintings and special effects shot. No more. Everything is absolutely seamless. Explosions are as full and bright as the real thing. Lightsabres bounce off the floors and walls. We've graduated from Claymation Tauntauns, now Obi-Wan Kenobi rides around on a fully realized lizard-like creature.

That said, I prefer the Muppet version of Yoda to the full-on digital version in the newer movies. On the other hand, there is something fun about seeing Yoda in a lightsabre battle with Christopher Lee.

And except for some of the wooden performances from normally good actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor and Jimmy Smits, 'Revenge of the Sith' works fairly well to provide some closure, tying up the loose ends, and blending into the original 'Star Wars.'

Concerned parents were a bit up in arms about the PG-13 rating of 'Sith' as compared to the other 'Star Wars' movies, which were rated PG. The argument being that young kids like the 'Star Wars' universe, and buy up the merchandise, and parents feel they can't take them to see the movie.

Yes, 'Sith' is intense and scary in certain sections. Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader is violent and rather graphic. Yes, a few people are decapitated in the film. Yes, some young Jedi students are massacred by an enraged Anakin Skywalker. But the brutal acts of violence are 'off-screen' and so we don't see blood flow, or heads rolling on the ground. In that way, it's what I would describe as cartoon violence and isn't much different than the other movies.

Overall, I liked 'Revenge of the Sith' but didn't love it. Great special effects and SciFi gadgetry, but because of fairly shoddy direction by George Lucas, I can't give it an overwhelmingly positive or enthusiastic review.

I liked the original 'Star Wars' movies, but didn't really care much for the last two. In fact, I fell asleep during 'The Phantom Menace' and found 'Attack of the Clones' to be pretty boring. My expectations were not high for this one.

Overall, I wish the dialogue had been a bit smarter. It's also very serious, with only a couple of laughs during the whole movie. Even with that seemingly critical stuff said, I like it. It's fun.

I really liked this movie.

I loved the way movie looks - the costumes and sets were all really cool.
Natalie Portman's costumes looked pretty good too, except when she was sleeping in that nightgown with pearls. That looked uncomfortable.

I'm going to go again, and take my friend Genesis.

Over the past few months, we've been enjoying our Netflix service. That's the DVD rental company that charges a monthly fee, and you can check out up to 3 movies at a time. They mail your titles to you, you watch them when you want, and then mail them back, shipping is included in the fee. It's pretty slick.

We rented 'The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes' this week. It's a Walt Disney Productions release starring Kurt Russell as Medfield college student Dexter Riley who, while fixing a giant mainframe computer, is sort of electrocuted. When he comes to, he has the brains of the computer, and amazes the world with his new found intelligence.

Since we recently enjoyed Disney releases 'The Love Bug' and 'The Cat From Outer Space' we thought we might enjoy this one. Eh. Not so much.

Kurt Russell was just 19 when he made this movie, and he's already a pro, giving off a great sense of California cool. The rest of the college gang are pretty much forgettable, but I've always enjoyed the goofy performance by Michael McGreety as the befuddled Schuyler.

Even with able performances by Disney stalwart Joe Flynn [Dean Higgins], supporting players William Schallert [Professor Quigley], and Cesar Romero [A.J. Arno], the movie feels so forced and plodding, that it's hard not to get bored. And beyond one chase scene at the end of the movie, nothing much happens.

It was fun to see the old Disney animation studio standing in as the campus of Medfield College, but it's incredible for me to think that as kids, we used to sit through these movies at a Saturday double feature.

Fast forward to 2005, we all got restless watching this one. It just has not aged very well.