10 Cinematic Reasons Why Growing Up in the 90s-00s Was the Best

9. Our Own Star Wars Trilogy

Before you start throwing trash, let's remember the age group we're talking about. It's entirely possible that we'd seen the original trilogy on VHS before going to watch The Phantom Menace for the first time. But at that point, you'd be fairly hard pressed to find eight year-olds who wanted anything more than cool characters, lightsaber battles, and intergalactic dueling. And by all accounts did The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith deliver. Your first theatrical Star Wars is an experience, no matter what film it is. As kids, we watched adults rally with excitement at the idea they would be able to return to where they were in the late 70s and early 80s to show their kids Star Wars. I know I had to be told that The Phantom Menace was awful when I left the theater. Because I remember being completely invested in it. The story, the characters, the action...it was all-encompassing to my child brain and I could easily empathize with those who'd seen the legacy of a franchise more than 20 years prior. The original Star Wars changed the industry and the prequels did not. But as kids, we didn't care. It was Star Wars, it was the big screen, and you elderlies were sitting there right next to us, veterans of the wonder. I can look back now and critique the films to death, but I certainly can't damage the impact they had on me when I saw my first title-crawl projected above me. And even if you're not convinced by that argument, we still got to have...