Star Wars, the original one when Han shoots first, was great for two reasons:
* Most of us were kids that saw it 16 times (Ha! Beat ya Troy ) and had every friggin toy known to man
* The character development was better and wasn't as dumbed down as the prequels.

There is a certain magic to being that involved in a certain culture, even one created by Hollywood. As adults, we try to relive that magic by immersing ourselves in the movie, hoping that for the next few hours we can feel like we did when we were kids, experiencing that world as innocents. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I get the joy of seeing it through the eyes of my kids, which is rewarding in itself.

My kids, 7 and 5, are SW fanatics. They love Lego Star Wars on the PS2 and have 4...count 'em four...light sabers, the latest coming just this past weekend for my youngest's birthday. If one of the SW movies are on, which is about every second of the day if you have satellite, they will watch it. 'Course, so will I...

Anywho, I don't agree that the acting was just as bad in SW as it was in the prequel's. For the life of me, I never will understand why Lucas had someone as enigmatic and beautiful as Natalie Portman talk in that annoyingly monotone voice. She's a good actress, as is Neeson, and yet the scene in ROTS when she's talking with Annakin about how in love she is made me throw up in my mouth. At least Ford made Solo a compelling character. When you were kid, you and your friends would battle over who got to be Han. I doubt today's kids battle over who gets to be that whiner, Anikin. Therein lies the problem; most of the characters in the prequel's weren't compelling. They were annoying.

As for Conan, I think SW has held up better and Barbarian definitely held up better than Destroyer. Although Destroyer did have Olivia D'abo, an actress that definitely made an impression on this young male teen.