Hmmmmmm. I forced to majorly disagree.
1.Special Effects: Special Effects do not a good movie make, as Yoda might put it. I thought the overall story was lacking. If the story is weak, no amount of FX will make it better.
2.Lightsabers: I do agree that Darth Maul and his lightsaber were cool. I was dissapointed that he was killed off in EpI. I thought he should have been able to fight in the Clone Wars. Kill him off in EP II or III.
3. Hype :You right here. There was a lot of hype...too much really.
4.Characters: I mixed on this one. I liked seeing a younger Yoda and Kenobi. However, I was a little dissapointed with the introduction of the Jedi Council. I expected something a little different. To me, they reminded me of stoners. They sit around and meditate/discuss, but did very little. Thankfully, we got to see them in some action for EP II and presumably EP III.
5.Pod Race: This one always bugged me. People keep talking about the glorius pod race. I thought it went on for too long (similar to the speeder chase in EP II). Granted, if you're a special effects junky, then this was way up your alley. I was just anxious to get the story advancing.
6.Underwater: This is were I really disagree with you. I found the whole underwater city bit kind of dull. Plus, most of us hate Jar Jar already. Now we see a bunch of Jar Jar's. The underwater speeder/fish chase was ok ,but the same thing kept happening over and over. A big fish is after our heros. They manage to loose that fish, and then here comes another one. Again, if you're an FX whore, you'll really dig this.
7.The last 15 minutes: I mainly agree with you on this one. I really enjoyed the lightsaber fight. Considering it had been 17 years since the duel in ROTJ, how could I not enjoy it. Only one thing bothered me. It took 2 Jedi to take on one Sith. I kinda expected the whole "fair play" aspect to come up in the duel. I thought since Jedi were good and fair, they would consider ganging up on one enemy as unfair. I guess all is fair in war though. I enjoyed the space battle as well, but it lacked the enthusiasm of the original Death Star trench run. I also found it a little hard to swallow that this little kid destoys the blockade ship on accident, meanwhile skilled and experienced pilots are dying. I realize they were trying to work in the "You're father was a great pilot" aspect, but I thought it would make more sense to work that in for EP II (didn't happen) and hopefully EP III.
8. Obi-Wan: I did like seeing Obi-Wan as a Padiwan. I dislike Ewan McGregor as a person (from interviews I've seen and read)but think he's done an excellent job in the role. No complaints on this one.
9. Senate: I did enjoy the senate scenes. This was our first time to see any democracy in Star Wars. I had envisioned it a little different, but cannot complain at the outcome. I especially enjoyed seeing Senator Palpatine play Queen Amidala like a fiddle. I think he's one of the great characters in the whole saga (just look at him in ROTJ). He's so bad and nobody knows it yet. From what Ep III info is already out there, we should expect to see him participate in a lightsaber duel....can't wait.
10.Jar Jar: Oh Lord, where to start. I think Lucas screwed up big time on this one. He alienated his original fans and thought about pleasing little kids. Surely by know, he knows that the real fans weren't all that thrilled about the Ewoks.....why give us a tall, stupid Ewok? I would have been OK with Jar Jar, except Lucas crammed Jar Jar down our throats. He was in a vast majority of the scenes.....simply put, there was too much Jar Jar. I can handle him in doses, but not in every scene. I'm thrilled that Lucas took a hint from the fans for EP II, by limiting his scenes. I also like the way it seems that Jar Jar will be to blame for giving Palpatine all his political power....how fitting.
Question: I don't remember you Watto quote from the movie. What scene is it in??????????
 

Yikes, I forgot to sign my post. It's me................Peety
 

I pretty much sit on the fence between both of ya'lls views. I thought Darth MAul was awsome best light saber yet. However, I despised the fact that he died. I totally agree with Peety in that JarJar was the stupidest thing since greedo firing first (the water scenes were pretty bad to...). How could you guys overlook the magnificents of ESB. I mean Hoth by itself beats ROTJ and EP1. I am in Brians camp in being very optomistic about Ep3 - though the opening crawl didn't seem that spectacular.