How is this one considered the worst?

Rating: 2/10 (5 August 2013)

After the release of "Revenge of the Sith" in 2005 and with the original and prequel trilogies complete, "The Phantom menace" was hailed by many as the worst movie in the entire saga. While it does lack a lot of what made the originals spectacular films, this is the one prequel that does not leave me annoyed after viewing it.
Yes, "The Phantom Menace" does have some of the most hated things in the "Star Wars" franchise like Jar Jar Binks, midi-chlorians, and a plot that is based around the taxation of trade routes. However, of all of the prequels, it has the best story, best acting, and least amount of awful dialog.
Awful dialog is still present in this film but it only comes from child actor Jake Lloyd (I am not saying he is a bad actor now). The acting is not great, especially with Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala, however, I feel this is her best acting of the entire prequel trilogy as it does not come off as annoying and whiny.
This film at least manages to have a story that can be followed and is not just shot after shot of CGI crammed in everywhere. The CGI in this film is much more subtle.
My main problem is that I do not get the motivations of the bad guys and a lot of the reasons there is a plot is unexplained. We don't know anything about the taxes nor why Naboo was picked as the targeted planet.
This film is not great but it has a few fun moments like with the podrace and there is an epic lightsaber duel at the end which is the best out of all three prequels, proving that it is the best out of the prequels.