Brilliant Disaster of a Movie

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2014)

Rewatched this visually impressive, yet terrible film this week and decided to update my review...
Star Wars is one of the greatest film series of all-time. The (original) Star Wars, Empire and Jedi are all amazing feats of cinematography and storytelling. They are brilliant and game-changing.
I recently re-watched this one, The Phantom Menace, and it's a disaster on so many levels, but it earns a few points just for being related to the original films.
The bad: acting, casting, accents, Jar Jar, the young Anakin goof ball kid, dry performances, stiff dialog, bizarre politics, terrible special effects (e.g. Jar Jar) and overall a laughable storyline.
The WORST: The young Anakin kid is like a bad Nichelodeon character. Jar Jar is much worse than I remember, and I recalled hating his character before. Natalie Portman is a great actress as is Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson--they are all wasted here with terrible stiff dialog and no chance to really act. Blah.
The good: there are a few great visual effects and the story has moments of interesting flow. Conceptually, this could have been a good film, but so poorly assembled and feels like a "B" movie throughout, despite massive budgets for everything. One other good thing is that it is here just to connect the dots in the overall Star Wars saga. It's like the really bad salad you get at an event before you get your steak fillet entrée. You hope to rush through it in hopes the next course is better.
Looking forward to the 2015 release in hopes they never make these mistakes again and get a whole new generation interested in this Saga... go back to Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Run from the Phantom Menace.
I'd sell this DVD for $1 and feel like I may have ripped the buyer off. I want those 3 hours back.