Our kids know generally of the SW characters, but we are not a SW family and have never seen one of the movies. If we were to pick one SW movie to watch before our upcoming trip to WDW and HS, what would you recommend? To me, the long story line is daunting and I would have no idea which one to pick to generally familiarize my kiddos (8 and 6) with the story (and that would not be confusing/dependent on having seen other SW episodes), to better appreciate the stuff in HS. Thanks for any suggestions!
I guess if the goal is to familiarize them for WDW and if you want to watch only one movie it would make sense to go with Episode 7 (force awakens) since the timeline in Galaxy’s edge is the new trilogy but the original trilogy is MUCH better IMHO and I started my son when he was 6 with episodes 4-5-6 in a single rainy week-end LOL
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Stay away from Episode 1, 2, and 3. Me-saw serious
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Ditto. They serve no useful purpose in making someone appreciate Star Wars in any meaningful way, unless what one loves about movies in general are special effects and CGI without any decent acting nor script writing.
And, to make matters worse, the story that George Lucas “promised us” by the clues he offered in Episodes 4, 5, and 6 he reneged on when he actually went to make the movies, destroying any reasonable sense of continuity.
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It may sound over simplistic, but I’d watch the original “Star Wars - A New Hope”. I know those characters aren’t in SWGE, but it’s a classic for a reason. At heart it’s a Fairy tale about a boy on a quest. If they like that then you can just go forward from there. (Avoiding the prequels!)
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I vote original trilogy. You don’t have to start with 4. It already starts with a story underway. I think the first one i watched as a kid was return of the Jedi. Kids will figure out enough of what’s going on.
I don’t get all the hate for the prequels. I don’t like them as much as the original trilogy because I saw it first, but they are still good movies. Without them we would never have a battle with dozens of Jedi all at once. Or Yoda in his prime fighting Dooku.
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I’d start with A New Hope too (ep 4). It’s where it all began!
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Episode 1 was awful! I don’t think that could ever be described as a good movie. Well not by me anyway! Darth Maul’s double ended lightsabre was cool though.
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Yes, but…
Which just looked STUPID, unrealistic, and nothing but a CGI-fest.
Cool moments does not a good movie make. Similarly cool moments could have been made if George Lucas had taken as much time crafting his story as he did playing with all the CGI toys at his fingertips.
But then, I don’t believe George knew Vader would be Luke’s father under after he starting working on Empire Strikes Back. You know. From a certain point of view, and all.
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If this is the standard you should tell people to avoid the original trilogy unless they have an old VHS copy before they got “fixed” 
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To give them the true Star Wars experience, have them watch Episode 4 (A New Hope), the original movie from 1977. It really is great! Considering Lucas was creating an entirely new universe at that point, it’s pretty amazing!
Having said that, Episode 7 (The Force Awakens) is a fantastic way to get a new generation of kids into the story. It has a lot of the original characters, and uses new movie-making tech to do it really well. It’s very similar to a Episode 4 in many ways.
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Yes, but the original trilogy made up for it by having a decent story to tell. I’d rather have a strong story with stupid effects than a weak story with stupid effects. 
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Darth Maul was the only / best part of that movie. Sadly, he’s used like a toss away character. Plus the CGI for his demise is so cheesy / awful.
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That was my take. I walked out of the theater and said “so, they remade episode 4 I guess”
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He didn’t die, though. He survives and has a role in the Star Wars Clone Wars animated series.
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Yes. This is true. But, man, did I have a great time watching it anyhow!
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My understanding, is JJ did that on purpose. Because the formula worked so well before, this was his way to introduce a new generation to the SWU. It was a hand off from the old characters to the new ones.
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For me it was having grown up with the idea that the OG Trilogy was all there was going to be. Sure… you’d hear fanboy rumors of more, but they were just rumors. Having the original released in theaters in the 90’s was a big deal. So after all this wait & hype the prequels just didn’t live up to it. I don’t want to hear about some “trade dispute” or “political infighting”. Let’s not forget those cringe worthy accents.
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Good point. As we all know, bad guys are supposed to be British!
I HATED all the political crap! Made it stupid and hard to follow!
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