I put Star Wars* in the Netflix queue because I wanted to share it with my kids (and watch it again as I don't think I've seen in in at least 20 years). Star Wars was a transformative experience for me and--while I didn't expect it to be that to my kids--I thought they would think it was cool.
D1 watched about half the movie with me. The other two watched half the movie in the back of the van. I don't think any movie is really served by the DVD screen in the van, but Star Wars is probably a particularly poor choice for that medium. The youngest (D3) watched the rest on the TV in the house, D1 and D2 never finished.
I did get to explain a few things to the kids. First--I don't like to talk during movies. At all. Really. Especially if we are watching on a DVD and can pause.
Second--if you ask me "Why does <seemingly implausible thing> happen?", the answer is "It advances the narrative.". ("Why can C3PO and R2D2 walk through the path of an outrageous gunfight without getting hurt?" "It advances the narrative.")
Third--if you ask me "Why does <magical thing> only work some of the time?", the answer is, "It's a plot device". (This came up with Obi-Wan using the force.)
Even though they hadn't seen the movie, all three knew that Darth Vader is Luke's father**. I think they've seen bits and pieces of it via YouTube. D1 has seen Episodes 1-3. A movie like Star Wars definitely loses something if you know how it's going to end (or begin?).
In one of those weird coincidences, I came across a reference to "Han shot first" today.
(See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_shot_first)
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*the original, which I can't think of as Star Wars 4: A New Hope. I also don't believe that Episodes 1-3 were ever filmed.
**in our house, when someone has a cold and is breathing loudly, someone else will cover their mouth and wheeze, "Luke, I am your father" (which is not the exact quote, but everyone gets the idea....)
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