Does Ewan Mcgregor do well as Obi Wan?

[KCMac]

After watching Ewan Mcgegor play Obi-wan Kenobi, I thought that he did an awesome job learning all he could about Alec Guinnes (spelling?) and putting that into the character. Does anyone else think he did a good job, or could have done better?

[gigantes]

yea, i thought he had one of the few good performances in that series. nice channelling of sir alec and all.

i guess the guy who played palpatine (mcdermiad?) was my favorite performance, with maybe liam neesan, mcgregor and christopher lee coming after him.

on the flip side, i thought samuel jackson was perhaps the worst performance, with maybe ahmed best, natalie portman and the two who played anakin getting a pass because of being trapped with horrible dialogue and bad direction.

it's still kind of unbelievable how there wasn't really a single charismatic performance in the entire new series... not even R2D2 and C3PO made any real impact this time for some crazy reason.

[Culhwch]

I think it was definitely a case of gifted actors (barring the two Anakins) having to do the best they could with a bad script and a bad director. I think of them all, Ewan Macgregor does the best with what he has.

[Joel007]

I usually like Ewan Macgregor's acting, and I agree that he emulated the original Kenobi very well. He did the best Obi-wan that could have been done, given his limitations by director and script.

[pyan]

I agree - but also I'd have liked to see what he could have done with the Hayden Christensen Anakin. Having a proper actor there may just about have saved the character.

[YoYo]

He indeed did well, but provided he's one of my favourite actors, I'm quite partial

[Talysia]

I haven't seen the films recently, but I think he did a good job of playing the role.

[Dave]

Two answers:

1) I think the fact that he looks like a young Alec Guinness, and has a similar voice and accent helps him, but he is a good actor. I can't think of anyone else who could have done it better.

2) The were problems with the plot. Clearly, Alec Guinness lied to Luke from the moment he found him, to cover up his own mistakes. Ewan McGregor seemed indecisive and weak as Obi Wan, but then he was barely more than a Padwan himself.

[TK-421]

Yes, he was very well cast into that role. You feel like he grew and matured from Ep. 1 to Ep. 3.

[manephelien]

Ewan McGregor was great, and he had a lot of the same mannerisms as Alec Guinness did in the role. I have to give Hayden Christensen credit for attempting to do the same, although maybe he wasn't quite as successful. After he's sworn in as Darth Vader by Palpatine, the way he moves subtly changes. He becomes Vader, without the suit. However, I think HC is one of those actors who does better with a more active director, EMG is more self-motivating.

[jayce77]

I thought Ewan did a terrific job as the younger Obi-wan. His dedication and channeling of Sir Alex Guiness was incredible . . .