My thoughts, copied from The Order:
My list:
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. TIE - Attack of the Clones and Return of the Jedi (both had their weaknesses and strengths)
5. The Phantom Menace
SPOILERS AHEAD
I really loved this. It was the prequel movie I hoped it would be, and I forgive Lucas for his previous transgressions. I teared up several times, but nothing got to me like the final sequence of Obi-Wan delivering Luke to Owen and Beru. The single shot of Owen standing on the hill watching the sunset, the same thing Luke would be doing 20 years later, it just made me shrivel up.
R2-D2 was probably my favorite part of the movie. I love the fact that, in the end, Bail Organa mentions to Captain Antilles that Threepio's memory is to be erased, but he says nothing of R2. The fact that R2 is in every single important place and is spectator to every important event in the entire series is really awesome. Not to mention the fact that he pretty much saves everyone's ass.
General Grievous was disappointing. He was much cooler in the Clone Wars cartoon.
I was bummed that Count Dracula (er...Dooku) went out like a sucka. But I guess it was important to Anakin's journey down the path of the Dark Side.
Yoda riding Chewbacca around was cute. Yoda ruled hard in this movie. He doesn't fuck around. Best line: "Anything to do with it, not if I have!"
Ewan McGregor was excellent. He really has become one with the Obi-Wan character. I loved the fact that he seemed to be getting older and grumpier, kind of beginning his life as a "crazy old wizard." I loved how gleefully irritated he seemed with everything. He really took it to the edge too, at the end. You seriously felt the heartache that Kenobi was going through when he was fighting Anakin, and how painful it must've been to leave him there, burning.
The whole "becoming Vader" plotline was great. It was also nice to see how Palpatine became so hideous, I had always just assumed it was a combination of the dark side twisting his features, and age. Ian McDirmid is awesome. To play the Emperor in the originals, and then come back and play him again twenty years later and twenty years younger, takes a bit of work. It was awesome to see him step back into that makeup with that twisted little voice again
The sequence where Vader is put together, so to speak, was excellent. Shivers went down my spine the first time I heard that breathing. The raw emotion that was shown when Palpatine told Vader he was responsible for the death of Padme was intense. The last bit of Anakin was killed away, there.
I loved the scene aboard the bridge of what would eventually become a Star Destroyer, as Palpatine, Vader, and Tarkin looked on at the framework for the first Death Star.
Hayden Christianson was much better in this film. I blame any of his shortcomings solely on the script he was given, as he probably had the worst lines of the film. By the middle of the movie, he really had become the human personification of Vader.
Some continuity errors I noticed:
In A New Hope, Obi-Wan tells Luke that he hasn't been called "Obi-Wan" since long before Luke was born. This could of course be a slight deception, as Kenobi tended to do that in the original trilogy...with good intentions, of course.
I also find it hard to believe that Obi-Wan would forget all about R2. Of course, this might be another deception...or rather, hidden truth.
In Return of the Jedi, Luke asks Leia "What do you remember of your mother? Your...real mother." Leia responds that she was beautiful, but very sad. Uh, hold the phone. Amidala dies during childbirth. How could Leia possibly know that?
