Bit of a disappointment

Rating: 7/10 (1 September 1999)

Although this was a reasonably good film, it was not nearly as good as it could have been. The first Star Wars film was very good, but they have been going downhill since. My biggest problem with episode I was Jar Jar. I couldn't concentrate on the film because all I could think of was "Wow, is that guy ever annoying." The acting was for the most part poor, but I doubt that the actors are to blame. It is difficult to act when so much is missing because it is to be created digitally later. The actors had to deal with missing sets, props, and even characters. The dialogue was often very choppy, apparently not from bad acting, but from bad editing. The best performance was by Ewan MacGregor. I had reservations about his part, since he doesn't look much like Alec Guinness, but he made up for it by making his voice sound like Guinness's. Although the digital sets were very effective, the characters looked a little too deliberate to be believable. This is, however, still new technology, and it might be a while before we see it work just right. I'm looking forward to Episode II, hopefully the makers will pay attention to complaints about Episode I.