only Ewan McGregor's performance as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi even faintly carries the magic of the original narrative

Rating: 4/10 (12 February 2010)

"Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" is a colossal disappointment. It is the fourth (or first, in saga chronology order and according to its title) Star Wars movie and the starting entry of a prequel trilogy fully written and directed by Star Wars creator George Lucas. Now the original trilogy, need I say it, is composed of three of the most original science-fiction movies ever made and two of the best films ever made. That trilogy is over. The prequels' point is to tell the story of Darth Vader, how he became one of the screen's most detestable villains. The whole trilogy is a disappointment, but "The Phantom Menace" is the worst of the bunch. Lucas decided to transform the series from a powerful, story-packed narrative to basically a chaste videogamy extravaganza...poorly-written, to add another fault.
"The Phantom Menace" traces Anakin Skywalker back to when he was a kid, when he was found by a Jedi master named Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson) and a young Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) who take it under their wing, after having the kid race against aliens in a pod in one of the movie's most pointless scenes, to raise him into a Jedi warrior. Amidst the conflict, there is an intergalactic battle amongst various alien races and humans were bizarre and unsightly makeup designs, and all mixed in with one of the most annoying supporting characters this amateur film critic has ever seen.
There are many things that do not work in this movie. Shall I name a few? The screenplay is awful. Jar-Jar Binks. Characterization is at the level of a cheap video game narrative. Jar-Jar Binks. The CGI special effects are overdone to the point where they look phony. Jar-Jar Binks. The movie is packed with pointless scenes such as that ridiculous and boring pod race I mentioned earlier. Oh, and did I mention Jar-Jar Binks? Jar-Jar Binks is a fully-animated alien addition to the cast, whose animation looks phony, and resembles a cross between a dog, a cobra, and a fish. And whose voice, done by Ahmed Best, with his alternative form of speech (he says "meesah" instead of "me" or "I") drives even the mentally toughest of us bonkers. The character never shuts up and is so obnoxious and irritating that he brings the already dull movie to a screeching halt whenever he opens his physically big mouth, which is, frequently over the course of the entire picture. He's supposed to be a bumbling, Three Stooges-like character who is stupid but makes you laugh, but is stupid and makes you cringe.
Well, Jar-Jar Binks aside, though his inclusion to the cast was the most detrimental mistake in the picture, there are so many other flaws. The special effects are only special in detail, but they are so overdone and so often with CGI that even they begin to lose credibility and persuasiveness. The other trilogy used great effects with imagination. Here, they are just used like objectives in a video game. Yoda is again realized via a puppet controlled by Frank Oz, but this puppet looks less convincing and passable than the original. The dialogue in this picture is just dreadful, also treated like a video game. There's a point where Natalie Portman and others are surrounded by bad guys and she tells her comrades to give up and that the bad guys have "won this round." Give me a break. We also have a mincemeat of performances. Liam Neeson is great, as always, but his character is flat. Natalie Portman, a great actress, doesn't seem to have much to do but stand around and look pretty, which she does well, but doesn't get to show her genuine talent much. And Jake Lloyd (sorry to pick on a young actor) is rather mediocre and annoying as a young Anakin Skywalker, who screams in an irksome manner "Yippee!" every time he's happy. And there's another fault. This movie is supposed to be about the history of Darth Vader. Well, then we should have the feeling that this kid, this boy, will one day become one of the cinema's most chilling bad guys. And we don't get that feeling. Not once. Need I go back to Jar-Jar Binks? There's also a new villain called Darth Maul, who makes me laugh more than he chills me. But one absolutely commendable performance is that by Ewan McGregor as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi. His acting is the only thing that captures magic of the original narrative. McGregor studied the acting style of Alec Guinness to portray this character and he does a stupendous job. He reminds me of a young Alec Guinness and the performances he gave before the original picture.
Instead of capturing the spirit and feeling and power of the original trilogy, "The Phantom Menace" and its two followers just reduced the series into a videogamey style with annoying dialogue, poor characterization, and very few fine moments. The other two are better considerably, but this start to a new trilogy is a real disappointment.