The Cons:
Simply put - over editing. This movie, my friends, is chopped to pieces. Some forum threads have surfaced about this but I'll write here the most essentials. First of all, things that are missing all together: no Mon Mothma or any discussions what so ever of senators against Palpatin or any talk at all about the formation of the rebellion.
Qui Gon absent from the movie was known to me for a few weeks now, but only when you see the movie can you understand how much his "no show" hurts it: we needed to at least hear him, and Yoda's line to Obi Wan left many people who where with me in the audience and didn't read the book, confused.
There are many smaller, minor scenes also left out but nothing really crucial: like the swimming and diving through patrol on the "Invisible Hand" by Anakin and Obi, and some dialogue recorded between Palpatin and Anakin but never used.
Continuing on the editing subject, I felt disappointed with some elements: most especially the opening space battle. As impressive as that was it didn't have the effect I thought it would - or should have. It was rather short, and focused exclusively on Anakin and Obi Wan, reducing thereby the entire epic clash of navies to a mere set of close ups on the Jedi's starfighters with some very few wider shots of capital ships clashing. Maybe I'm being over zealous here, but all post notes and stuff like that promised (as we say in Hebrew) hills and mountains... and I don't think they delivered. As we move along in the story what is rather painfully obvious is the lack of, how should I put it, believability factor in Anakin's turn to the dark side. In episodes V and IV his slow redemption from being Vader to getting back to the side of the light was brilliantly shown, and here, at the beginning of Episode III, Anakin is still very much the same person he was in Episode II, only some what stronger. That means that Lucas was "forced" (by himself actually) to make Ani's turn to dark side in half a movie. And that is simply to short of a time to make it as good as it could have been.
Lets move along some more: the titanic battle between Yoda and Sidious and Obi Wan and Anakin. Remember this is still the Cons part of my review: the most obvious problem here is the eternal fanboy's cry: it's too short !
Besides that, I really wanted the almost silly exchanges between Sidious and Yoda from the book to appear on the big screen, but that didn't happen. The battle between the masters was odd, to say the least, to my eyes. At moments each looks defeated and at others each looks invincible, with no apparent reason. Especially Yoda's escape seems uncalled for, he was - through my interpretation of what I saw on the big screen - Sidious's equal, if not even stronger, all he needed was to press on some more.
The Anakin Vs. Obi Wan fight was much better but also, once again, not enough dialogue and that last swing of Obi's sword that left Anakin armless and legless was so fast and shot at such an angle that it could hardly be seen, one moment Anakin was jumping on Obi, the other he lies there on the ground minus 3 of his limbs.
Last thing I didn't like and found at times out of place was the music. It was the usually great stuff we used to have Williams throw at us but to me it was out of place in many scenes - the wrong music for that moment if you will. Once I see the movie a second time I'll elaborate more on this point.

But enough bad talking this masterwork of a film - on we go for the Pros.



The Pros:
First of all - the plot lines are solid, just like all Star Wars movies. The acting is great by all, and I didn't see/feel/hear any of the critics "wooden" acting.
Above all else - the movie is simply amazing to look at, by far the best looking flick I had ever seen. The effects and the digital work are superb, CG and real life elements combine better than I ever thought was possible.
The movie is different on many levels than any other Star Wars movie, and all of them for the better: the texture of it all is far richer, there is a wider range of emotions for both the characters and for us, the audience. Even the camera moves in new, different ways, giving me the feeling that this is not a Star Wars movie at all.
From beginning to end the movie delivers on almost all fronts (beside those I mentioned in the Cons section): we see the birth of Vader, both as a persona and as a mechanical terror. We get to see Luke and Liea's birth, as well as the birth of the Empire. We see the demise of various important Jedi. We see the epic duel that we have heard about for so long between Obi and Vader on a lava planet.
Some of the things we (well, at least I) didn't expect to see, or didn't know how it will turn out were also brilliant: General Grivous, all the different battles raging on various plantes, the new clone suits and vehicles, Padme's funeral, the wookies and probably many other things I simply cannot recall right now.

Bottom line: an awesome movie, for me the best of all the Star Wars series.
With some faults - that can easily be changed in the DVD - this is still a masterpiece, and one which is a rough emotional ride to watch. Just the way I love it.