Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (PG-13, 2005)

REVENGE OF THE SITH shows how young, ambitious, and idealistic Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is convinced that using the dark side of the Force will benefit his community and Padmé (Natalie Portman). They have married in secret (as a Jedi, he's supposed to remain single); to make matters even dicier, she's now pregnant with the twins Luke and Leia. Anakin's desire to not to lose Padmé (and, oh yes, to gain power) leads him to the dark side -- and his destiny of becoming Darth Vader.

The origin story of the infamously heavy-breathing, black-caped villain Darth Vader isn't uninteresting, but neither is it innovative. Anakin's motivations are conventional (even if he doesn't bother discussing his decisions with Padmé, not showing his very capable and intelligent partner much respect). In fact, the movie's most compelling angle is that Anakin is so young that his thinking is immature: Afraid of loss, he can't accept what happens and so changes the shape of the entire galaxy essentially to get his way.

Like the other Star Wars movies, this one is filled with great special effects: Though the futuristic urban sets look rather flat, the space-fighting scenes are very video-gamey. Yoda is especially well rendered here, and a scene in which Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) rides a giant lizard and battles enemies in a multi-legged mechanical vehicle is lively and sometimes funny but also involves violent fighting, which might worry some younger kids. As much as this story focuses on Anakin's dilemma, the secondary characters are often more compelling, especially Obi-Wan, again revealing patience, wisdom, and charisma, and Padmé. Palpatine is convincingly vulnerable just before he becomes utterly fearsome, but Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and Senator Organa (Jimmy Smits) have very little to do, embodying the predominant problem in the Star Wars franchise -- too much emphasis on technical displays and "universal" plotting, and not enough attention paid to character details.