Not entirely disappointing

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 1999)

I had heard such scathing criticism of ST:TPM that I went into the theater with dramatically lowered expectations. As a result, aspects of the movie that were well done appeared to be moments of genius; parts that were merely not disappointing exceeded my expectations, and the abysmal crap was no more than I had anticipated. I therefore feel that I can offer some objective criticism.
THE GOOD:
The costume designer deserves an Academy Award, and will probably get one. Exquisite work.
They don't give Oscars for Spacecraft Design, but the responsible party ought to get one anyway. They took care to contrast the graceful lines of the Queen's ship with the stark, utilitarian lines of the Empire ships in Eps. 4-6. Beautiful work.
Stunning visuals. The Gungan city was astonishing. Trantor -- oops, I mean Coruscant -- was everything it should have been. The Naboo capital was gorgeous.
The actors. I know that the performances were criticized negatively by some, but I thought the parts were played quite competently given the conditions. It is very difficult to look convincing playing against another character that isn't really there, against a set that mostly isn't there either, and with such badly written lines.
The aliens. Although I dislike CG actors on principle, I have to admit that they were well done. The state of the art has come a long way since TIN TOY.
The fights. The best choreographed fight sequences in any Star Wars movie, and near the top of the heap in general.
The music. How can you go wrong with John Williams?
THE BAD:
I'll start with the biggie: the script. George Lucas flubbed it big time. Would it really have been that much trouble to write a second draft? There were few original lines - most of them seem to have been cribbed from dozens of other movies in various genres, and one could almost recite them along with the actors even before the first hearing. There was no discernable plot. The drawing together of the various subplots and the careful orchestration of dramatic tension into a single exultant climax, so competently rendered in the original Star Wars, is absent. Instead: a lot happens, and rather breathlessly at that.
One of the most annoying kinks in the script is the "little kid saves the day" motif. This motif, overused by Star Trek: The Next Generation in the person of Wesley Crusher, made Wesley the most hated character in the series for devoted fans around the globe. Fortunately for Anakin, we have Jar-Jar Binks to draw off our rancor - and here I may have discovered the true purpose of that character. A little of him goes a long way, and while he's amusing enough, he's nowhere near as amusing as Lucas seems to think.
The Details: There were some sloppy moments. I won't detail them all, but they were evident to anyone paying attention, mostly related to continuity and props.
The CG: As I said earlier, I'm opposed to it on principle. But some of it could have been better done with a little more effort. Jar-Jar's pratfalls seemed to occur on a planet with about three times the gravity as the planet everyone else was on. Boss Nass' spittle flew out in exactly the same pattern every time he shook his jowls - an obvious corner cut. There were other examples of this sort of thing.
Racial Sterotypes. The obviously Asian-looking (and sounding) Federation representatives, often speaking lines that could have come out of Japanese characters in a WWII movie. The somewhat Chicano-looking Sebulba. The Rasta Gungans. There may have been others I missed. And I'm not even going to talk about the religious caricatures.
Midchlorians: Oh, give me a break!
On balance, worth the price of admission - I saw it at a matinee. But certainly not the work of genius it had been promoted to be, or that the fans expected.