Seeing Star Wars was one of the seminal moments of my childhood. My mom saw it when it came out in 1977 and immediately decided to see it again - with me, her 5 year old son. She was a little worried that I'd be scared of some of the creatures, particularly the riffraff in the Mos Eisley cantina. Needless to say, that wasn't an issue, and I spent the rest of that day acting out the movie with light sabers made with crayons and cardboard.
I'm now 43, and gave three little boys of my own. I thought it was time the older two, ages 6 and 4, see Star Wars. I've been telling them stories about the movies for years, but I've been a little cautious about when to watch it. I had the same concerns about it being to scary.
Secretly, I was also a little worried about how they'd react to it. For kids growing up with fantastically rendered Pixar movies, would 1977 special effects seem lame? Would they respond to the story? I tried to set my expectations low. If they didn't like it I couldn't let it detract from me childhood memories.
So, how did it go?
See for yourself:
I'd say it was a success.