Good, but not what it should have been

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 1999)

I enjoyed it (heh, I saw the 1st one 6 times in 1977 when I was in 6th grade!), and look forward to seeing the next Eps., but I don't think this one lived up to either its hype or its potential.
What was good? Great casting. Acting was fine (though they gave some unnatural lines to Jake Lloyd that I don't think anyone could have delivered convincingly). Great effects, great environments, cool people in cool situations.
What didn't measure up? While it isn't too juvenile (unlike the Ewoks...& I would've much preferred the more subtle humor of R2D2, C3PO, and Chewie from the 1st 3 Eps. rather than Jar Jar), the story just didn't deliver the drama, the tension, the excitement, etc that Eps. IV-VI did. I think it would probably be more exciting to go rent one of those tapes for my VCR than it would be to watch the movie a 2nd time in the theater (though the Jedi lightsaber action alone & the other cool visuals almost entirely justifies the admission -g-).
Perhaps the experience was damaged for me by the hype & the pre-release info...though I intentionally tried not to learn anything that wasn't officially released by Lucas. Perhaps it was still too much. I was aware of one significant spoiler before going, which was bad, and a few minor details I could easily anticipate from other info I'd learned. Or perhaps the story was too constrained by having to deliver on setup that we all knew was going to happen anyway? But I don't think so. Eps. IV-VI were hardly high-concept stories, yet they had fun, interesting little surprises "told" in just the right manner to add up to so much. I wish this film had accomplished the same. And IV-VI both stood on their own AND fit together...I felt this Eps. was too much of a setup. I plan on reading NOTHING about Eps. II to see if that helps. I saw V & VI "cold", and maybe I should've with Eps. I as well.
Jar Jar is acceptable, just barely staying back from being "over the top". Actually, Boss Nass is less believable than Jar Jar...I can accept a bumbling bad apple from the Gungan race, but for their leader to be such a slovenly clown.... The digital characters are in the scenes very convincingly (though perhaps if I re-watch I won't feel the same, but nothing jarred the 1st time through). I don't feel the movie is cold, or overwhelmed by its special effects...it just suffered from not enough of the right touch in the story, screen-writing, and directing.
As for the climax... it wasn't built-up enough, it wasn't climactic enough. I like the Amidala character very much, I thought she was a well-done, well-acted, strong presence, the film never really made me care about her fate very much. The "real" people in the film were Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Anakin. At that, the sometimes clumsy dialogue interfered with my being able to really get in tune with Anakin very much. A young actor, esp. when he doesn't have a huge number of lines, can't get us to slough off some bad lines the way a more experienced, charismatic actor can.
Perhaps trying to get us into so many new characters at once was a bad idea in a 1st installment...we're supposed to care about Qui-Gon, get into Obi-Wan, see Anakin/Vader in a fresh light, enjoy Jar Jar, get into the Queen, etc. Perhaps that's too many people with too little focus on any one. In Eps. IV (our 1st intro to a raft of new characters) we're clearly focused on Luke. To a lesser degree are Leia & Han, important characters, and we grow to love wise old Kenobi. And that's it. Vader is a simple presence to comprehend, & we're not supposed to like him anyhow. The droids & Chewie subtly start working their effects on our heart but we don't need to love them for the 1st movie to succeed.
In Eps. I we're supposed to love Qui-Gon, focus on Obi-Wan, focus on Anakin, focus on the Queen...and as for Jar Jar vs droids/Chewie...Jar Jar's presence is NOT subtle, unlike the minor lovables from Eps. IV.
Anyway, I hope I like Eps. II more than I, or I'm going to start getting very disappointed.