Simply marvelous

Rating: Null/10 (19 June 1999)

I suppose any comment/review would be incomplete without at least acknowledging the comments that have come before mine regarding TPM.
In a nutshell, I have to dismiss the nay-sayers for their lack of vision and perhaps their lack of memory. Was it just me, or was Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, nearly an exact replica of Episode IV: A New Hope? Aside from a few twists, the pacing of the scenes, the plot, the action and the conflict all seemed (to me at least) more than heavily borrowed from ANH for ROJ. That being said, I loved ROJ, just as much as ANH. In fact, I don't feel any sense of favoritism toward any of the "first" three episodes.
I say this as a preface to my commentary on TPM because it seems that many people want to constantly draw comparisons between one movie and another. This practice I feel could only be fair if comparing two treatments of the same material, for ex. the 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons could be rightly compared to the 1989 film Valmont. But for anyone to draw even a remote comparison between TPM and a film like The Matrix is completely ridiculous. The oft-used phrase, "apples and oranges," comes to mind. To that end, it is also a bit unfair to compare TPM to any of the other films in the Star Wars Saga. Truly, there is some necessity to recall and project details from one movie to the next, but that is where the comparison should end.
Certainly, if one were to view ESB without having seen any of the other movies, there would likely be more than a little bit of confusion and perhaps a certain emptiness afterward. One would likely be left wondering what exactly is going on. Likewise, with TPM, there is a sense of question the moviegoer may be left with: DEAL WITH IT!
Unless what we want is for there to be two more prequals filled with absolutely nothing, we should be very thankful that Mr. Lucas has left us with something to look forward to, the answers to more of our questions. How much character development is expected in a single 2 hour action movie? Of course, Lucas could have developed the characters more and given us a 3 hour movie, but then, what would follow in the next two episodes? It seems to me that this development of plot and characters is precisely what Episodes I thru III are for. We have already bared witness to the birth of the Empire and seen lain the seeds of the relationship between Anakin and Amidala. What more could you ask for?
On the technical front, many have criticized the use/overuse of computer graphics. I, too, am generally opposed to the computer image fanaticism on the part of Hollywood. However, this is one case where I must make an exception. As it is plain to see watching Episodes IV thru VI, there is only so much one can do with animatronics, models, and costuming. This galaxy exists in fantasy, a place a tad hard to depict using Earthly terrestrial materials. So if the movie seemed to some like watching an expensive cartoon with some live actors thrown in: DEAL WITH IT!
The plot and dialogue were typical Star Wars fare, nothing special and if anything a bit weak, but enjoyable, and again, what do you expect? The notion that all of a sudden, George Lucas would say "Never mind the kids, let's take this series into another direction," is ludicrous. If you are too old to enjoy this film, too bad. Truthfully, I doubt many younger folks would get the trade federation stuff and what it signifies. The seemingly altruistic Palpatine and his self serving alterego Darth Sidious, creates a truly mature story line for the Star Wars loyalists to follow intently as it develops further. The only problem I had performance-wise was the performance from Jake Lloyd. He just didn't do much for me. That being said, I liked him much more in subsequent viewings. I loved everyone else, including Jar Jar!
As this commentary has grown a bit long in the tooth, I will end here. In closing I can only say that I don't care how much hype surrounds a movie, if it stunk that bad, it still wouldn't do the kind of box office it has. To sort of borrow a phrase from Chancellor Palpatine, I will watch this series with great interest.