The second trilogy suffers a bit under the weight of its pretensions but is extremely well produced and gorgeous looking. It has a bit of difficulty trying to serve its vast audience of 7 year olds and 47 year olds alike but pulls it off fairly effectively. The story arc is very clever, going back in time to get to the middle of the story. Althought they rush to fill in the gaps between the prequel and the first series it is a neat trick to see where story elements that are referenced in "A New Hope" get explaned 25+ years later in the final chapter. Like the first series it suffers from wooden acting, probably the result of having to stand still in front of the green screen so much to enable the CGI animators to fill in the screen. Hayden Christiansen is over his head as an actor trying to carry the gravity of his role and comes of as poutty instead of tormented. Natalie Portman improves from silly in the first film to sexy prop in the second but is reduced to the point of plot necessity by the third film. The only actor who doesn't completely embarrass himself would be Ewan McGregor, although Samuel L. Jackson does OK.
