'Star Wars' shines stellar-style on the big screen once again

One could brave the frigid weather to go see Star Wars: Special Edition at the theater, waiting in line over an hour only to sit in a hot, humid theater with a floor that has God-knows-what all over it.

Or, one could rent it for 50 cents, watching it at leisure at home with your friends and a tasty beverage.

The first is by far the more preferable.

George Lucas has re-released his classic film Star Wars into theaters, complete with new scenes and revisions.

It's a wonderful film that still stands as one of Hollywood's greatest flights of fancy, and for many people, the re-release is the first chance to see it on the big-screen with true theater sound.

Most of the embellishments are for the better. New creatures in the background add atmosphere and give people who have seen the movie more to look at.

In some cases, the additions make the film even more impressive than it was before. Extra storm troopers and starships add more punch, but the new effects that were added to the explosions of planets ameliorate the somewhat dated original light shows.

Perhaps the biggest improvement is the sound -- the soundtrack has been remastered to bring it to current theater standards. It's a subtle, but important difference.

Not all the changes are so welcome, however. Two stand out in particular for their problems.

The scene in which a bounty hunter named Greedo confronts Han Solo was adapted so that Greedo fires first before Solo shoots back, killing him. The scene worked fine before and was an efficient characterization of Solo's character. The new scene seems forced and improbable. How Greedo could miss from across the table is anybody's guess.

More problematic is the addition of an encounter with Jabba the Hutt, a slug-like creature that originally didn't appear until the third film. Lucas didn't have the technology available to shoot it the way he wanted back in 1977, so the scene was done with a human actor standing in for Jabba and later cut altogether from the film.

It's remarkable that Lucas and his cohorts can insert a wholly digital character into footage 20 years old, but unfortunately, there's little excitement in the scene. It mostly repeats the information in Solo's scene with Greedo. It's obvious the scene originally contained a human character who didn't have a tale that got in Solo's way.

Similarly, Lucas has re-inserted a scene that introduces one of Luke's old friends right before the climactic battle. It's nice, but nothing spectacular.

Overall, it's surprising how well the film has held up over the years. With the new effects, it's almost impossible to tell that the film is an entire generation old -- except, of course, for the pork chop sideburns.

It's the mythic story, though, that really captures the audience's attention. Star Wars isn't so much science-fiction as it is a classic fairy tale, complete with a princess, a pirate and a farm-boy. That, more than any amount of spectacular effects, is what has made it so popular and enduring.