Ep. II doesn't make this film any better

Rating: 1/10 (26 May 2002)

Yes, I'll say first off I'm one of those people who was geeked for this film went it came out, and walked out of the theatre hating it. I still hate it, it is just a bad film. If it wasn't Star Wars, would I hate it as much? Honestly, probably not, but I don't think I'd like it either.
This film fails on every level for me. It reads like a collection of loose scenes that Lucas imagined, then conjured up a lame story to tie together. For NE1 out there who thinks he had the whole story planned out back in the day, you really need to learn to research things. This movie illustrates at every level how not only did he not ever plan the story, but he didn't even have any ideas on what to say in the 1st 3 movies.
Now that I've seen Ep. II, I can say for sure, that Lucas is a technician, who can achieve amazing things with special effects, but he is not a director or a writer. He must have had a *lot* of help back on the originals to come up with such better films back then. Of course, it helped that he didn't direct most of them. Lucas still manages wooden performances with great actors.
So what's bad about Ep. I? The midicholorians, the plot (lack thereof), the horrible racial stereotypes (which if it's not intentional, is just plain embarrassing), the main villain's lack of screen time or even development, Jar jar (a crime against every person who ever liked Star Wars).
Really it comes down to this... I was 4 when the original came out and Luke Skywalker did not have to be 4years old for me to relate to him. By making Anakin a child, Lucas made a gigantic mistake. The biggest weakness of this film can really be summed up like this:
This film is childish whereas the original was childlike.
That's at least how I see it. If it weren't for the Star Wars name, this film would've sunk like the stone it is.