Not the terrible movie the fandom would have you believe, but it's not great either.

Rating: 6/10 (18 January 2020)

Last night I revisited this film for the first time in years with a slightly fresh take on it. I have to admit, I felt very let down when I first saw the film (as like so many others, I think it's almost universally acknowledged that this was some way off any of the originals). The truth is - this is a very mixed bag of a film. It's full of goofy and ironically, animated Disney-like moments (strangely now feels like an omen) but there are some great sequences amongst the awkwardness of it all. The Neeson/ Qui Gon scenes seem to stand out as the best - I liked how he connected with Shmi, his interesting relationship with the Jedi Council,. his closeness to Obi Wan/Qui etc etc. This was all characterised extremely well. The lightsaber duels at the end were also excellent, with some great Darth Maul moments, and a cleverly concocted suspense with those red forcefield doors creating delays before each part of the fight. And on the bad CGI imagined characters, Watto the Toydarian was the better of the animated characters for me.
As for the negatives, Natalie Portman did not look at all comfortable throughout the film. Nute Gunray seemed like a pretty turgid and weak villain and the whole political story in the film felt more like a sideshow than a driving force. Darth Maul was underused. And whilst I don't understand the hate leveled towards him, Jake Lloyd as kid Anakin felt like a poor casting choice. He wasn't that bad to be fair - the script he had was hardly inspiring!
All in all a 6.5 out of ten for me - Neeson kind of saves this film from being a complete disappointment, and having something that feels worth a watch (if only for the one time)