Jar-Jar Stinks

Rating: 5/10 (8 July 2008)

I was fortunate to have watched all three Star Wars films when they were on the big screen way back then. When I first learned of it, the whole title sounded too dumb. "Star wars," my brother boasted. The method of thinking in film days then was that any space title probably was something worth *wasting* your money on. Droids named R2-D2 and C3PO? Well... all the scoffing was whisked from my mind the first moment that the titles rolled off into the galaxy and that humongous battleship rumbled into the screen from above. There was no need to create any cute or funny characters because the story line stood on its own.
So why on Earth (or Tatooine for that matter) did all involved approve of Jar Jar Binks and the silliness the character portrayed in Phantom Menace? Jar Jar Stinks was a menace the moment he made his entrance, and it simply took away even more from a half-decent film, that was supposed to give us an idea where all that celestial war-making originated. I give Phantom a 6 because it's a necessary evil to watch to understand what was going on with the Federation for Star Wars fans. But Star Wars buffs are a refined bunch, and should have been respected more than to be subjected to Stinks and the abundance of cute-kid scenes that permeated a decent amount of Phantom Menace. When Anakin shared the quiet scene with the queen, I rolled my eyes because the acting seemed forced. His character was simply too young. He seemed not believable enough to pull it off. I felt as though the filmmakers were trying to bring a young-kid generation into the Star Wars fold, to expand the marketing and popularity of "Star Wars." Only problem is, Star Wars is already a force in and of itself, and it didn't need help to expand its reach - kids these days don't need to be patronized.
If Phantom were produced with more deference to sophistication, it would have been a better flick, and more would have wanted to see more. I still have yet to watch the second and third episodes, simply because ep.1 turned me off that much. It seemed like several characters were being created to add another avenue for profits by fast food chains and toy stores. That Jar Jar was one of the few characters who hadn't succumbed to the dark side, that I wished would have been done away with by a single swipe of a light saber, the moment Stinks made his entrance. I watched Star Wars I again, just the other night and was simply perturbed as that Gungan spoke and acted foolish. It so went against what Star Wars seemed to have overcome when Episode IV debuted in 1977, it being an intellectual movie about life and death in another galaxy. Now thinking of it, I have to give Phantom a 5-star rating.