George Lucas Ruined My Childhood

What is George Lucas thinking? Seriously? Does anyone know what's going on in his head? Does he think that the movies that he is making now somehow enhance the wonderful movies he made in the 70's and 80's? Hasn't he done enough damage to my childhood movie memories?

I just read that he is mulling over a 5th Indiana Jones movie. Did he not see the last one? Did he think it was actually good? Not only that, but he has a new animated Star Wars movie coming out in a few weeks. Did anyone see that movie trailer and get super excited? I for one, did not. After seeing the Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith I no longer have any desire to see any new Star Wars material. I'm not sure why I was so surprised at how lame these movies are. I mean Lucas did attach himself to such cinematic gems as Howard the Duck, The Ewok Adventure, Captain EO, and Radioland Murders.

I'm not trying to pick on Lucas or say that he is a lousy film maker. Okay, maybe I am saying that he is a lousy film maker. But he hasn't always been. I mean as lame as the movies that I just mentioned are, he has also given us American Graffiti, the original Star Wars movies, the first three Indiana Jones movies, Willow, and even The Land Before Time (before it had 20 sequels). In fact, I thought that Lucas was such a great film maker that I even convinced myself to pretend to like the Star Wars prequels.

It wasn't until I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that I came to the conclusion that he no longer has any film making talent. After Crystal Skull, I came out of the theater let down because he ruined a character that I enjoyed since childhood. He doesn't seem to have any more original ideas. For the last 20 years he has been doing things involved with either Indiana Jones or Star Wars. The only exception was in 1994 when he co-wrote Radioland Murders. Everything else has been some form of spin off of work he has already done.

Jim Emerson at MSN Movies said in reference to Lucas, "He's a mogul, not a director." He re-released the original Star Wars movies in the 90's and made a bunch more money. Then he re-re-released them on DVD and made some more money. Then he re-re-re-released them on DVD again, this time without the digital enhancements he made in the 90's. Now he plans to re-re-re-re-release them again in 3-D. When does it stop?

I'm sure he still has some good ideas for new stories and films. And I would love to see some of them once he tires of tinkering with the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. I think that he is worried that any new material that he comes up with will not be well liked or as profitable as those two franchises. He's right, but who cares? At least it would be new and fresh and that's what a film maker needs to be in order to stay successful and relevant.