A very entertaining movie for very young viewers, but inferior to the original trilogy

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2011)

Having watched the movie, I can say it was very enjoyable, but not in the way that I expected. For a film with a top drawer cast of Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Ian MacDiarmid, Frank Oz, Samuel Jackson and Natalie Portman I was hoping that the film would be dramatic, with some dark overtones. Instead the decision to aim the film at under 12's robs a cast of this stature of anything significant for them to do. This is not helped by the decision of Lucas to move away from the naturalistic acting style of the original three films, a style which would have benefited this excellent cast. The only cast members who comes over with any real charm are characters that are played by voice actors, puppeteers and computer graphics character animators!
Frank Oz yet again does an excellent job as Yoda. Voice actor Andrew Secombe is terrific as the junk dealer Watto, and his character, thanks to some truly magnificent work by ILM led by animation director Rob Coleman resulted in an animated creature that genuinely feels alive and interesting. Same goes for for the creation of win at all costs Sebulba, who even has some moments of dark humour that don't feel forced or crass.
Unfortunately the excellent work done with these characters is partially, but not entirely undermined with the much discussed Jar Jar Binks character. The bumbling nature of the character, and the way his mistakes ended up being heroic deeds was annoying and patronising to the audience. It was also frustrating to get past Bink's accent and actually try to understand what he is actually saying. This character was one of this films major flaws . Also the computer graphics to realise Binks seems much more cartoony as his character is far less convincing than some of the other digital characters seen in the film
As to the human actors, Liam Neeson comes across by a clear margin as the best of the major players, and is clearly working very hard to get some humanity into dialogue that is too formal and expository in nature. He is very effective with Jake Lloyd, Watto and Pernilla August (playing Anakin Skywalker's mother Shmi). Lloyd, playing Anakin Skywalker , gives a very solid performance for a nine year old actor in a movie of this scale. Credit also has to go to Lucas for getting this performance out of him. The Tatooine segment is by far the strongest part of the film, and apart for Jar Jar Binks's antics the film slipped into a involving and atmospheric mood, culminating in a terrific action sequence in the form of a pod race. However McGregor , playing a young Obi-Wan, Portman (playing the queen of Naboo) and Jackson (in nothing more than a bland cameo)all come across as plot devices rather than genuinely interesting characters. Ian McDiarmid is however, very effective as senator Palpatine is a small but pivotal role. The film's most charismatic villain, Darth Maul is very well played by stuntman turned actor Ray Park, and is an outstanding example of great design work, excellent facial performance and body language, but a crowded narrative doesn't give time for his character to be properly explored.
Another of the main problems of the film is the overtly complex plot. While Lucas is trying to set up events for the next films, the strength of the original trilogy was that they worked as stand alone films. Too much is packed into this film, and some characters, notably Darth Maul, suffer for lack of screen time. For example, detailed explanations of the science of the force were unnecessary and too many characters crowd the narrative. The decision to make Anakin Skywalker a young boy was for me, wrong. I believe the film would have played better with casting Anakin as someone in his late teens, who had seen a bit of life, and this would have given the other cast members something better to play against.
ILM, Lucas's visual fx company, produced outstanding visual effects and well integrated story telling action sequences, particularly the pod race, which acted as a showcase for what visual effects could achieve in 1999. However the visuals are at their best when they are blended with live action elements such as real locations, sets or miniatures. Certainly the scenes on Tatooine look marvellous and are a genuine and heartfelt homage to Star Wars. Unfortunately the scene's on Naboo don't always come across as photo-realistic due to attempting to try to solve all visual effects problems in a computer. Editing, by Ben Burtt and Young Indiana Jones alumni Paul Martin Smith (and no doubt Lucas) is outstanding and goes a long way to glossing over the films flaws and allowing the film to zip by at a terrific pace. Gavin Bouquet production design and David Tattersall's photography are both impressive and the Tatooine scenes are definitely outstanding in these regards. Trisha Biggar's costume design is also good. Lucas veteran collaborator Ben Burtt also leads the sound effects and sound recording teams with great aplomb.
However, the most outstanding contributions comes from John Williams, who yet again produces another brilliant score. 26 years of waiting for a new Star Wars films is rewarded by an outstanding piece of musical entertainment, that even more than the editing, sweeps you along in the film and makes you overlook a lot of the flaws while you are watching the movie. Williams has lost none of his talent for finding the keys themes of story and making them work musically.
Overall a very enjoyable and fun film, with a great middle section set on the planet Tatooine. Sadly the film doesn't demonstrate the quality of either Episode IV or V, and falls slightly short of Episode VI, which has a more efficient and streamlined plot, as well better performances by the key players