This is precisely why it's overrated. This idea that it's cultral influence on one generation of kids makes it a brilliant film. A tale for all ages. Something "amazing in every way"....
It's not The Godfather. It's not Apocalyspe Now. It's not Ran. It's a kids film. A kids film with cool SFX, made at a time when space travel was really 'in' that captured the zeitgeist of the era it was made. But as a film, an actual film, it's pretty meh to middling for someone who didn't see it at a time when it was impressive. Bland hero, 2D characters, iffy dialogue and simplistic plots. The script would probably struggle to get anymore than a B-Movie deal with the Syfy chanel these days IMO. A school of thought backed up by the fact Lucas has never written anything else of import since, and his modern stabs at Star Wars have all been critically panned as terrible writing.
So maybe, just maybe, it was the zeitgeist after all.
The very fact it's so highly culturally regarded is precisesly why it's overrated. Because the generation that saw it at the time, who are now the culutral arbiters and people who make films themselves, have never let us forget how important it was to them as kids to see this movie. Hopefully when they die off we can move on to appreciating how Jurassic Park or Independence Day or The Goonies were actually some of the greatest, most brilliant works of fiction ever created. 'Cos that's about the level of film we're dealing with here.
Surely by the very definition of overrated, nothing comes close to Star Wars.
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