Lucas' biggest mistake ever -- Jar Jar Binks

Rating: 8/10 (21 May 1999)

Before I went to see TPM yesterday, a friend who'd seen it on opening night warned me to be prepared for a really annoying and incomprehensible character called Jar Jar Binks. I thanked him for his warning in a sort of off-hand way, expecting him to smile, but he took my arm and with the most serious face said, "I know how much you like Star Wars, Tom, but you really need to be ready for this because I wasn't and it's still bugging me." I wondered what could be so bad about this Jar Jar guy, but nothing could have totally prepared me for him.
Jar Jar appears early in the film. The character is completely CGI, which is fine (though he seems rather cartoonish), and he speaks with a shrill, cartoonish voice in an unintelligible accent. Unfortunately, about half of what he says is incomprehensible and the most commonly heard statement in the theater was "What'd he say?". It's probably better that you can't decode much of what he says, because what is understandable from Jar Jar is stupid, pointless and most of all annoying.
Jar Jar's function appears to be that of comic relief, except nothing he says or does is remotely funny or even mildly amusing. When Jar Jar does do or say something funny, the moment is milked way too long and the scene quickly becomes awkward (thus very unfunny). Though, presumably, Jar Jar's antics are meant to lighten the mood or cater to children, not once in the packed theater did I hear anyone laugh at him and I don't see how Jar Jar could appeal to anyone over the age of six. Jar Jar seems more like a technology showcase, as in "Look here, a completely CGI character, everyone!" and you get the sense that his scenes, full of pointless garble, exist only to justify his presence as a character in the film.
The bottom line is that the Jar Jar character is a terrible distraction. He's there throughout the film -- we never really get a decent rest from him -- and it's impossible to tune him out because of his shrill voice, which is also louder than everyone else's voice in the film. In a film that just barely succeeds plot-wise beyond the two-dimensional (which is fine, since Episode 1 is both a starting point and introduction to the saga), Jar Jar is a terrible mistake that only brings the film down.
I don't know what Lucas was thinking, both in the creation of and casting for this character, but whatever it was it didn't work. I have a feeling that during production someone must have realized that a serious blunder had been made -- I doubt, however, that this information was relayed to Lucas. The reason I'm harping on this is simply because Jar Jar almost ruined a film I've waited 22 years to see, and if you're like me you'll appreciate the warning.
I say "almost ruined" because the visual effects, sound and music for TPM are amazing. Young Anakin is a believable character, and the pod race sequence alone is worth the price of admission. Darth Maul is a really cool bad guy -- it's just too bad he's not used much until the film's end. The lightsaber duels are beyond your wildest dreams, but the plot is simplistic and somewhat copied out of elements from eps 4, 5 and 6. The space battle is a little too much like ep 4, and it relies on silly flukishness to achieve final victory (which evokes memories of the stupid Ewok battle from Return of the Jedi).
That said, if you're a Star Wars obsessive like me you'll enjoy the film so long as you really, really prepare yourself for this Jar Jar guy.