Has some good ideas, but the delivery is...

Rating: 5/10 (27 March 2015)

When I was a child I absolutely loved this movie, the CGI was captivating and the battles were intense, occupying my attention for the entire running time. But now that I'm older I do realise that that's one of the movie's many weaknesses, the fact that it is catered a little too much to children, with a story that could have been good but instead is quite simplistic, the addition of questionable characters used to give kids a laugh, and battle scenes that show off some 'ok' CGI, but take up more time than is strictly necessary.
The story basically follows Jedi's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn, as they fly to Naboo to settle a trade dispute. But when things turn hostile it's up to them to rescue Queen Amidala, and get her to the Galactic Senate on the city planet of Coruscant. While on the way, their damaged ship has to stop on the desert planet of Tatooine, whereupon they bump into Anakin Skywalker, a young boy who has a strong connection with the Force, and just might be the 'Chosen One.'
First, I'll outline the bad things. Jar Jar Binks for starters, a character that delivers nothing except nauseating annoyance and little assistance to the plot (apart from accidentally releasing those blue grenade ball things that take out several enemy tanks).
Next, the story, which is needlessly complicated for the sake of being complicated. The whole 'Chosen One' thing comes off as forced (no pun intended), trying to shoehorn yet another one of these prophesy subplots into the mix, but detracting our knowledge of Anakin as a person. He's bigged up from the start and thus we can't see him as a regular person, but more an immediate God among men.
Although the Trade Dispute story is a fair enough sub-plot to get the story going, there are far too many holes to keep this particular story ship afloat, mainly through the choices made by the characters, mostly the villains, who literally make things a bit too easy for our heroes.
Some of the fight scenes also do drag on for a bit, which after the first few minutes starts to remove the initial excitement. Once that's worn off, you know the heroes are going to win so all you're really doing is seeing the CGI and choreography being exploited.
The acting is also rather wooden, with no one seeming to look or feel human in their emotions, just maintaining the same serious tone that if you tried in real life would make those around you very uncomfortable. You can't really relate to the characters because they're just too monotone and inhuman in their actions.
As for the good things, of which there are a few, the CGI does still hold up quite well in my mind, and the lightsaber battles are exciting to watch, with some fantastic stunt work and gymnastics. Some of the story elements work as I've mentioned and the expansion of some of the worlds with the CGI does help with immersion to a point.
But other than that, with the major flaws on board it is very much a film I couldn't recommend. For all the work that went into it, the story is mediocre, the acting is poor, the comedy is very, very confused, which, although it's a good film to turn your brain off to, the holes in the story may be just the slightest bit too much to make yourself miss.