Prepare yourself for the implausible.

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2013)

I love this movie. I never fully understood why people hate this movie so much. Here is why (I will also be speaking a bit about the other two prequels):
First off, casting Anakin as a kid was an excellent choice on the part of George Lucas. COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW! He's much more impressionable as a kid than he would be as a teen or young adult. When everyone in the movie keeps stepping in front of him and forcing him to conform to their way or their point of view, it helps build this feeling of powerlessness which he grows to despise and fear throughout the rest of the trilogy. I mean, he starts off as a slave (already powerless) who wins his freedom from his owner who refuses to let his mother leave with him. He feels powerless because he can't change Watto's mind. He gets attacked by Darth Maul in the desert and must watch Qui-Gon fight him alone. Again, powerless. He must stand and be judged by the robotic Jedi Council, travel with Qui-Gon back to Naboo, is told to stay in the ship lest he get in the way or get hurt, and then finds out that Qui-Gon, the only father figure in his life, was killed and that there was nothing he could've done to prevent it. All throughout his life, he is being railroaded around by all these people who disregard him because they see him as of no consequence, which he hates. This foreshadows how he'll react to finding out that he was too late to save his mother from Tusken brutality, as well as having troubling nightmare's about his wife's impending death: he doesn't want to be powerless.
And when he realizes in the third film that it was HE who killed Padme, it's all the more devastating to him because now he actually HAD the power and still couldn't save those he loved FROM HIMSELF. Thus, he becomes the cold-hearted, nihilistic Darth Vader, who cares nothing for his fellow man and will not hesitate to Force choke anyone who screws up.
The Jedi Order is portrayed as a bunch of unfeeling automatons who think that emotion leads to the dark side. Thus, they are unable to help Anakin cope with Qui-Gon's loss or that of his mother in the second film, because they don't understand feelings anymore. While this does make them a bit wooden as characters, it helps explain why they weren't able to foresee his betrayal: because they don't FEEL like he does.
No comment on Jar Jar. I didn't find him that annoying.
Finally, there's the villains. This is where I have my peeves. For one thing, why did Sidious order the Viceroy to KILL the Jedi? Wouldn't that make it harder for his plans to move forward if the only two who could get away were dead? And why did Darth Maul show up at the hanger and not try to stop Padme and her guards from capturing the Viceroy? And why did Darth Maul attack Qui-Gon in the desert? And why did Darth Maul not make his escape instead of fighting a pointless fight scene? I dunno, but I can forgive it because that fight scene gave us Duel of the Fates and a double-ended lightsaber.