Where were the "Star Wars" moments?

Rating: Null/10 (21 June 1999)

I actually went back and saw "The Phantom Menace" for a second time -- in the new digital format -- to not only witness the supposed "future of film projection", but also to see if Jar Jar Binks would actually be able to ruin the viewing of this film for me a second time. Well...he did, with help. Having been a lifelong and avid fan of the series, I did put a lot of weight on my first viewing of "Phantom Menace." On my second viewing, however, I had already tended to a lot of my first-round wounds and found myself able to actually sit back and appreciate the enormity of visual and audio details...for a while at least. My complaints had remained intact. First and foremost, Jar Jar Binks ruins every frame of the movie he appears in. Flat out. Period. He never works. He pushes you away from the film and upstages every live-action character he comes across. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor must have been kneading their foreheads when they finally saw who they were actually talking to in the final cut. Secondly, however random the conception of Anakin Skywalker truly is, it might have been able to come across as kind of cool. Might Have. However, it's handled in such a blase' fashion (a careless and dull delivery of the goods by mother Skywalker), that we can't help but react to this discovery with: "huh?" Also, I understand that not all 6-year old kids are Robert DeNiro, but Jake Lloyd? This kid will grow up to be Darth Vader? Agreed, that's a heck of a lot of weight to put on any kids shoulders, but this was a national search...wasn't it? Not all of it was his fault, he was given WAY to much random stuff to say, i.e. in the final battle: "uh, let's turn left!" and "let's try spinning, that should do it!", etc. Once again: "huh?" I'm realizing that I could go on for hours, but I'm running out of space. I can assure you, very few people wanted to like this movie more than I did and I pray for redemption in Part II. My suggestions would include the complete exemption of ANY Gungan characters and the possible re-instating of Lawrence Kasdan to rescue us (again) from Lucas' dialogue. The man's a genius, agreed, but no man is perfect.