Firefly

In her review, Manohla Dargis in the New York Times compares Joss Whedon’s Serenity with George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. Serenity comes out ahead. "Scene for scene," she writes, "Serenity is more engaging and certainly better written and acted than any of Mr. Lucas’s recent screen entertainments. Mr. Whedon isn’t aiming to conquer the pop-culture universe with a branded mythology; he just wants us to hitch a ride to a galaxy far, far away and have a good time." Jan Stuart in Newsday makes a similar comparison, remarking: "George Lucas could learn a thing or two from Whedon. Serenity flies with sass and spirit, qualities that have been in palpably short supply in that Star Wars series since, well, Star Wars."Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times also indicates that he had a good time watching the movie, writing: "Serenity is made of dubious but energetic special effects, breathless velocity, much imagination, some sly verbal wit and a little political satire." Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News notes that the movie appears to exist as a the final episode of Whedon’s canceled Firefly TV series and because the show’s fans "made the Firefly DVD set an unexpected best seller." She adds: "Whedon’s sci-fi fantasies smartly parallel the serious issues we’re grappling with here on Earth, while his protagonists remain mordantly funny in the face of utter disaster. Like Star Trek before it, the outer-space setting is perfectly suited to a big budget" movie.