A timewaster movie and another guilty pleasure of mine. George Lucas, you tried your best.

Rating: 6/10 (15 September 2015)

After "STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI", George Lucas did not have an idea for a prequel trilogy, but in 1993, it was announced that he would be making the Star Wars prequel.
Production was a very long one and the film would not be finished until the summer of 1999.
The hype was definitely good for this movie and it surprises me because the movie had mixed reactions from fans and critics, but the hype made this movie more about action and it also was more story-oriented.
The film takes place thirty-two years before the fourth film, the first released in the saga, but THE PHANTOM MENACE is chronologically, the first film in the franchise overall. The film begins as two Jedi attempt to resolve a trade dispute and eventual invasion of the planet Naboo by the Trade Federation.
Unknown to the Jedi is that the situation is being manipulated by Sheev Palpatine, the Senator of Naboo and secretly a Dark Lord of the Sith called Darth Sidious.
The Sith, the ancient enemies of the Jedi, reveal themselves to the Jedi after a thousand years in hiding while the Jedi discover a young Tatooine slaved named Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force - and who will grow up to become Darth Vader. Meanwhile, Queen Padme Amidala of Naboo fights to save her people.
I'm not gonna beat around the bush with this film, but I like this episode in the STAR WARS franchise, but it bothers me today that some people don't actually like this film.
The story is a little bit incoherent, but after watching it a few times, I just literally wanted to stop watching this film, but it was really amazing to see this film.
The acting is kind of a mixed bag of popcorn and candy for me and this is the reason why it appears on my Top 10 Underrated Movie list: The acting, some of the dialogue and the CGI outweighing the story.
Liam Neeson does a really good job as Qui-Gon Jinn and his performance is very amazing in this film and this would lead him into being into action films including the Taken movies.
Ewan McGregor plays the Padawan learner, Obi-Wan Kenobi and from my point of view, his performance is just enjoyable. He is not as good as Alec Guiness in the original trilogy, but considering the shoes that he had to fill, he could have been a heck of a lot worse.
Natalie Portman plays Queen Padme Amidala and she is not as bad as the critics and some of the fans of this STAR WARS franchise said to be. Her performance is just amazing in this film.
Was I surprised to see Samuel L. Jackson in this film? He plays Mace Windu and a lot of people said that he was completely miscast as a Jedi Master, but from my perspective, he was the perfect choice. He does not have a lot of screen time, but he does give a wonderful performance.
The returning members from the original trilogy is really great to see: Frank Oz plays Yoda, and he does the puppet version, but the CGI version of him is much better in the newly released version. His performance was short, but it was really glad to see him again.
Anthony Daniels returns as C3PO and Kenny Baker returns as R2-D2 and this film did not fail to do one thing: show us how the two met and became friends, which was really funny to hear C3PO's dialogue in the film.
The only performance that I have an issue with and this is my main criticism: while I like the story about Anakin Skywalker, I both loved and hated Jake Lloyd's performance as Anakin Skywalker and his performance goes back and forth, he does act right on being happy, but when he is being sad, it kinda bothers me, but I won't go into details.
The other criticism is that the CGI outweighs the story, but to me, it does give me a mixed reaction, but at the end of the day, after watching this, I was positively amazed by it all.
The music by John Williams is really cool and amazing, my favorite music cue in this film is "Duel of the Fates", the choir and the orchestra was a really good mix and the way it sounds was really amazing.
Another critical standpoint is some of the dialogue for me. Some critics called the dialogue stupid and flat, but I like some of the dialogue in some sequences, but some of it is really out of control and I'm like, "Why in the world they are saying stuff like this?", but the film does have some memorable quotes from the original trilogy of STAR WARS film.
The action is not a problem for me because it involves the Podrace. That was a great action sequence and this was really great because it was a reference to the action sequences in the original film, which I will get to.
The lightsaber duels are really amazing and I think they are just phenomenal and really cool, with the use of CGI, they were able to make the lightsaber duels more powerfully and intense, in which, the original trilogy were only allowed to be intense and violent as they could be due to the some of the limitations.
Overall, this is the only STAR WARS movie that I have mixed feelings with, but I still find it to be watching. I have not seen the 3D re-release, but I have to say this film is amazing and stupid. I give STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE a 6 out of 10, because George Lucas tried his best.