Overrated....

Rating: Null/10 (30 August 1999)

Star Wars Episode One looks really great. The special effects are unparalleled, and even Jar Jar looks (fairly) realistic. The visuals are obviously the product of immense time and effort.
If only the script had been so painstakingly constructed. Lucas' script is full of stale, wooden dialogue that is completely unbelievable. Characters are shallow and underdeveloped, particularly Jake Lloyd's Anakin.
Jake Lloyd's performance warrants criticism also. Admittedly, he is a child actor, but after seeing the Sixth Sense that excuse doesn't quite work. He also ended up on the wrong end of horribly written dialogue; "Yipee!" probably doesn't leave an actor much to work with. Still, his performance was mediocre at best.
Great actors giving mediocre performances pretty much sums up the players in the film. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor have proven themselves to be fantastic actors in other films, yet they too seem to fall prey to poorly written dialogue. The direction of the actors seems uninspired at best. It must be extremely difficult to direct actors (and for the actors to do their job) in front of a blue screen, and while Lucas was once a great director (American Graffiti), he seems to have lost his touch.
Hopefully Lucas gets his act together for Episode Two and accepts some help on the screenplay while relegating himself to a producer position and allowing someone else to direct.