Great action and effects make up for the weak links in the acting

Rating: 7/10 (11 June 2015)

*WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* I've always thought that The Phantom Menace has been unfairly judged. The Phantom Menace had so much hype and nostalgia that had been built up from the first three movies, that nothing short of perfection could've lived up to it. Is this is a perfect movie? Definitely not. Is this a great movie? No, not really. Is this a fun movie? Yes. A lot of people have problems with the political side to the story in the Star Wars prequels, but I thought that was a good addition, it added a bit to the complexity of the Star Wars universe, making it much less simplistic. Now, I'm not saying the politics couldn't have been handled better, but Lucas certainly had the right idea. The Phantom Menace also gets a lot of heat for being too boring, which I can understand. Parts of this movie drag, but as I've said I do like the political side of Star Wars, so I'm not bothered by having a slower, less action-packed Star Wars movie. Okay, now let's get down to the really tough part: the cast. We all know about Jar- Jar Binks, and no I don't like him, but I will say that as a kid I loved Jar-Jar, so once again, Lucas did succeed partially. He made a character kids would like, he just needed to tone him down a bit and make him a little less... well, y'know. Jake Lloyd gets a lot of grief, but I think he believably portrayed an eight year old, it's the just the fact that Anakin is a kid that really bothers people from what I've gathered. I do think Ewan McGragor and Liam Neeson delivered solid performances and like able characters in this movie. They may not be as good as Han Solo, but their characters had enough subtle personality and characterization to make them interesting. Obviously, the action is the obvious point to bring up when listing positives for the prequels, and I agree. The action is top-notch, and very visually pleasing. I love the effects too, the CGI gives everything a sleek look to it, and the ships look much less clunky than they did in the original trilogy. But those aren't the only things I like about Episode One, the story is a little cluttered, but I think it is a good story. I will admit that Phantom Menace doesn't hold up on its own, you do kind of need the whole saga to really enjoy it, but it's still not as bad as people would have you believe. I also like the characters, though they are a bit bland. I'm not saying I can't understand some of the complaints, what I am saying is that the amount of hate against this movie is ridiculous and unfair, this isn't a bad movie. There I said it.