The Prequel that Took the World by Storm

Rating: 6/10 (27 October 2018)

This movie is the most despised prequel in existence. Star Wars the Phantom Menace is certainly a film to behold whether it be for the good or bad qualities it had. With a film that came 22 years after his last directed movie, one can't expect to find a flawless movie but I suppose people couldn't imagine it would be this different from what we saw in the Star Wars Original Trilogy. Anyway, it's time to unravel just why this is a bad Star Wars film, but not necessarily a bad movie. Yeah, this isn't THAT BAD of a film, even with all the screw-ups and failures within. Let's get started, and if you don't wanna continue than just know that I think this movie is watchable even if a disappointing follow up for Star Wars.
To be fair, though this movie is terribly flawed it still has a lot of nostalgic value for me. The music and sound design is fantastic, the visuals are very inviting, and it still carries that Star Wars atmosphere. Whenever you see a planet or a spaceship fly by it's an epic experience. This is visual storytelling done very well. BUT that means that we pave way for a lot of dumb crap. Why is it necessary to have dumb lines be said by everybody without any sort of emotion behind them? We get lines like, "I hope so, yes, I guess." That is inexcusable! "Yes, I guess?" "YES, I GUESS???" Are you kidding me?!?! They just pop out at random, though to be fair, when they manage to be bad at least their quotable and hilarious to listen to. But when you realize that this is supposed to be a Star Wars movie.....you get kinda upset!
The biggest problem with this film is characters. Seriously, characters? Why is that so difficult? Well because George Lucas decided to rob these characters of emotion so everybody talks the same except for a few characters like Palpatine who have a distinct voice. The British are the only ones who can act when given no direction, all the Americans are just robbed of emotion. The worst case of this is with Jake Lloyd. This boy just had no emotion whatsoever and whenever he spoke in a different manner it sounded awful "Yippee" he often screams? "Yippie?" Does anybody proofread Lucas' script!
The movie itself is of course labelled by the sin to cinema called Jar Jar Binks! Everybody hates him and so do I, but not for the reasons you might expect. Yes the dialect could be called racist but when he speaks normally I actually don't mind him.....I seriously mean that! The problem is that whenever he screams I want to tear my ears out! He screams all the time so thus he's insufferable and his "comedy" fails to warrant any intentional laughs. This is jarring, no pun intended, because Star Wars is supposed to have lovable characters.....not this! First of all this movie doesn't need comedic relief, so to insert one in here requires expect writing and Lucas clearly lacks this.
Now how can one like this movie. Well, as stated, whenever this film gets bad it's still fun bad! It's just a fun space adventure that can be stupid at times but sometimes you can just forget about it because you're having a good time. The moments that are good, are really good, because there actually is a lot of practical effects used in this movie as well as real landscapes and miniature work! When it's good, it's really good! The light saber battle in this movie is easily one of the best action scenes ever put to cinema! Sometimes a legitimate laugh does come and it's refreshing to hear it at certain moments. Overall this is a fun movie. It may be dumb, but for what it is I can still find enjoyment.
As a Star Wars movie this gets a 6/10 but as a fun space adventure 8/10 baby! There is a great movie hiding here and sometimes you can get glimpses of it! The Phantom Menace has problems galore, but when it succeeds it's legitimately fun to watch and revisit from time to time. Check it out and see for yourself.