Honestly, My Least Favorite Star Wars Film

Rating: 6/10 (17 February 2012)

The Phantom Menace is usually the one Star Wars film that most fans can agree as the worst. Why exactly? Well I'll get to that.
The plot takes place years before the original Star Wars and follows a young Obi Wan Kenobi(Ewan McGregor) and his Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn(Liam Neeson). They are sent to the planet of Naboo to negotiate peace terms between Naboo and the Trade Federation. The Federation does not want peace and conquers the planet holding the Queen at hostage. The two land on the planet and meet a Gungan native named Jar Jar Binks. He leads them to the capital city where they rescue the Queen and several others and retreat to another planet.
They stop on the planet of Tatooine to find another fuel source and meet a young Anakin Skywalker(Jake Lloyd). Qui-Gon senses the force is strong with him and takes him with them to Coruscant to have trained to become a Jedi.
But a new threat is rising and the shadow of the Sith is returning to the galaxy. The mysterious Darth Maul is sent to assassinate the Jedi and the Trade Federation is not going to give up Naboo anytime soon. The battle to start it all is about to begin.
The plot sounds like a Star Wars movie but there's something about Phantom Menace that seems off to me. For one thing, most of the actors are all pretty good for their own right. But either a bad script or bad direction makes most of the dialog feel unnatural. Sure Star Wars has never been one for normal conversation between characters but the older movies seemed to do it more casually.
And here's the big thing that most people thought was wrong about this movie. The comic relief. No I don't mean C3PO or R2D2 they're as good as ever, I mean Jar Jar Binks. His character is the definition of pandering to the kids. He doesn't do much of anything except lead them to his home and then just sticks around for the rest of the movie not doing anything but looking like an idiot. His character could've been handled a lot better.
And another big factor is the performance of Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker. He's too normal. He has a happy life, a good relationship with his mother and all around likes everything. So how is there supposed to be darkness in his heart or whatever? He's the chosen one sure but you're not gonna expect us to think the whole Darth Vader thing just came out of nowhere are you? On top of that the way he delivers his lines are just wrong. He seems to just have one personality. Obnoxiousness. It's really off-putting.
Another nitpick is Yoda. He's supposed to be younger here but he looks a thousand years older. Whoever designed the puppet for this movie really didn't do their homework. Frank Oz is still great but I'm wondering why he looked so off.
But still the movie does deliver on its action scenes. While the first battle with Darth Maul and the space battle feel rushed and not as epic as they could've been, the fight with Maul near the end of the film is spectacular. And the Pod-Race at the middle is pretty intense too.
So yeah this movie isn't my favorite of the Saga but I don't think it's horrible. Maybe the hype was too much. Maybe the film just couldn't live up to the expectations. Maybe it wasn't entirely Jake Lloyd's fault that Anakin was so annoying and more bad direction or script. Any way you look at it the film just doesn't really deliver(at least for me).
But even though this movie is my least favorite, I can always watch it whenever I have a Star Wars marathon. And more than likely I'll go see it in 3D. It's still Star Wars, and worth at least one watch.