The perfect opening to a trilogy

Rating: Null/10 (20 April 2001)

I'm not too sure what people were expecting from this movie. Maybe something sinister or maybe they've just forgotten the pure simplicity the first series had, especially, `A New Hope'. I personally thought this was a great intro to the prequel series. You have your quick introductions to the characters and the opening to what will lead into a darker/heavier storyline.
The CGI was amazing, but I will have to say that even though effects enhance a movie they do not make the movie. The battle scenes, with the ability to show things that the previous movies could only dream of creating, were amazing.
I love how they showed the full power of lightsabers by slicing a door open and how I got to see fully trained Jedi's in action using the force to bowl down opponents. These are things, that growing up, I always wondered about.
As for the characters, to see a young Kenobi was very cool, seeing how he wasn't always the patient mellow one made him a much more 3 dimensional character. The most interesting person was Anakin, yes, I won't deny, I wasn't too keen on the kids acting ability, but we got to see Anakin's drive to do the right thing, which will make it more interesting for the final blow that pushes him towards the darkside. Also, we got to see what Kenobi meant with a lot of the things he told Luke about his father i.e. `He was a great pilot'. Now for Jar Jar, everyone hates this guy, but I took a totally different look at this character. I didn't see him as Lucas's little show off display of `look at what I can do'. Jar Jar to me served a function, he was the one that initiated the joining of forces, and he also is the one that helped hide the Jedi's. I'll probably get attacked to no end for saying this, but I believe he served a much bigger purpose than Chewie. Don't get me wrong, I loved Chewie, he was the bad-ass of the galaxy, and yes, he's Han's co-pilot, but face it, what did he really do? Plus, I'm also going to have to throw in: Jar Jar isn't in episode 4 - 6, do you all realize what that means? Yup, he's going to die somewhere during episode 2 or 3 he's going to meet his fate. Now before you all jump up and cheer, also remember, Lucas is doing this, he's probably going to do it in such a way, everyone's going to weep for this `annoying' characters death, and all of the sudden he'll be as cute and favorable as an Ewok.
Overall, I'll stick to my guns and say this was a great movie, it's the initial set-up to a heavy duty trilogy that's going to end on a very sour note, unlike the happy Disney-esque ending of Jedi, where going to see Anakin get pushed over the edge when his mom die's and then get his butt kicked and left for dead by Kenobi, which of course will lead into the intro of the Darth Vader suit. Also, it's going to be a slaughter, everyone who wasn't a character in 4 thru 6 I figure is pretty much going to get wiped out somewhere along the line of 2 and 3. Hopefully then, everyone will be satisfied with how the trilogy went.