Spectacular, but a little cold

Rating: Null/10 (14 January 2002)

This movie has had a lot of abuse heaped upon it by fans of the first three movies who felt let down, and also by critics who just can't stand George Lucas, because anyone who makes a ton of money making movies must, they insist, be crass and commercial.
I honestly believe George Lucas still cares as much about these films as he did from the start, which is quite a bit. It's a story he wants to tell and he's been criticized since the release of the first movie. Back then, many critics attacked the original Star Wars as being cornball, cliched and, again, crass and commercial. Today, those same critics are calling it a "classic."
Now we hear the same criticisms about this film, and critics are convinced it was a box office success only because fans of the first films saw it about 500 times each.
No. It's a good film. The first time I saw it, I was blown away by how Lucas had managed to create settings that looked like nothing I've seen before -- the waterfalls of Theed, Coruscant, the underwater city, and the details of Mos Eisley. (A number of people have insisted they've seen all of these things before. WHERE??!!) By comparison, Return of the Jedi (which I consider to be the weakest of the four movies) had very little in it which inspired a sense of awe. Phantom had more effects shots than any movie to date, and required innovative computer imaging techniques, which were unjustly ignored at the oscars. Also ignored at the oscars was the brilliant costume design.
As for the plot, yes, it was convoluted, but not hopelessly so. The main problem was that it revolved around Anakin, and therefore needed a strong actor to pull us in and make us care about what was happening. Jake Lloyd didn't pull it off. And yes, Jar Jar Binks was very annoying. (Less annoying than Ewoks, though -- I can't STAND Ewoks!) And Gungans, as a whole, were fine. There were also some lame aliens, such as the Pod Race announcer and the Humpty-Dumpty-like creature who's pod exploded. What was up with that? On the other hand, Darth Maul should have been given MORE screen time.
Overall, I think George Lucas should have chosen to make Anakin slightly older and given the film a more mature tone, as well as being a little more concerned with the dramatic undercurrents. That's why I'm really looking forward to Episode II, despite the inclusion of Jar Jar Binks and *shudder* nSync!