The Star wars of my generation (but not as good as the originals)

Rating: 8/10 (6 January 2019)

Okay so i was bought the prequel trilogy on christmas in around 2005/6 and they were my first experience of star wars as a fan, and let me say they were perfect and amazing especially as a child, then i was lucky enough to realise where they all came from and found the original trilogy which was even better. anyway back to this movie.
I'll do things i like and things i don't and expand on a couple a bit further on.
Likes
Best lightsaber choreography in possibly any movie so far
Ewan mcgreggor and liam neeson and natalie portmans performances and ian mcdarmoid's aswell
some of the best star wars music in duel of the fates
naboo as a planet is great along with the sleek design of the chrome ships and fighters, brilliant design,
battle droids are a nice addition to the universe including droidekas,
jedi order shown in their prime, jedi knights are feared and deified across the galaxy as we were promised.
darth maul is a un-complex but believable villain, as is the greedy goals of the trade federation puppeted by Darth Sidious,
slaving and life on Tatooine is believable but different than anh,watto is also a good scoundrel,
Dislikes
Jar jar ( i know right) the comic relief is partly unnecessary but on reflection as an adult the child like talking does get old quickly as does his relevance in the film gungans are a interesting new race though.
Darth maul in my opinion would have been a good character for anakin to kill in anger maybe at the start of ep2 getting revenge for the death of qui gon showing how powerful he had become ,obi wan becoming angry to beat him was good to watch but served no other end.
Anakin Skywalker, this is one of my hardest things to explain i''ll try my best below.
green screen creatures and scenes just a few too many in my opinion not loads like some people said but enough to notice easily on some viewings,
ric olle the naboo ship captain seems far to enthusiastic in his talking somthing i noticed several times which was a shame but it really seemed like someone acting in a otherwise convincing world.
force running, used in the opening battle by qui gon and obi wan never seen or heard from again very strange and a mistake to include in my opinion.
destroying the enemy spherical ship is too much like the death star in my opinion and the fact it wipes out the droids is a great convenience
okay so to elaborate of a couple of points,
good,
the music is great in this film it really adds to the feel my favourite moments are the duel of fates and the crescendo when qui gon nearly cut his way into the trade federation bridge effectively showcasing the power of a jedi.
ligtsaber choreography, it really is amazing, having seen this first and then the originals i could not believe the difference, i know why the originals were like they were but this choreography of three fighters and a double bladed weapon look amazing to watch. even the brief encounter on tatooine is amazing to watch the energy and concentration really showcase how amazing the sith and the Jedi can be when duelling each other.
and the bad
Anakin skywalker
so to be honest i think jake lloyd's acting is very good and the lines he has to work with aren't shocking but could be better, i think that george lucas wasn't great at growing love stories from characters, and the instant connection between padme and anakin does seem a bit strange, especially when she says she cares for him, my main problem being it does not seem as if there are five years between them padme seems older than 14. also the fact that anakin would leave his mother so easily is a bit annoying and the fact he dosen't come back with a lightsaber or money and free her earlier.
i don't dislike us seeing darth vader as this child in the first episode but i think there would have been no problem with him already being a teen or something along that lines. one of the saving graces is that we see anakins main weakness at not being able to let go being noticed hear something we get frankly too much of in the next two films. also the lack of emotion a qui gon dying is really annoying to me, the man who rescued you and is your idol dies and at his funeral your asking whats happening to you? bit strange.
okay so to try and sum up my overall feelings, the special effects are well used but only occasionally overused in my opinion, the addition of 2rd2 and c3p0 is very fortunate that they happen to originate so close to home but its still nice to see them. qui gon and obi wan are real heroes of this film for me in their actions and in their words. padme's lines are to be honest pretty rubish but the conviction of natalie portman helps a lot and she becomes the strong woman she needs to be a leia and lukes mother.
This was one of the only films that could have any starting point it could but still had to set up a destination 3 films on i think they did a goo job at creating the world we hear about from obi wan in ep4 and we see a corrupt republic and powerful sith lord waiting. darth maul is underused but still does good in his time especially as a visually powerful sith a nice counterpart to the power and presence we see in vader and sidious. for me it was a great star wars film in my child hood and is still today, wierdly maybe because of the time gap in the story it does have this strange feel as a standalone in the trilogy and the saga but nevertheless is a good cornerstone to start the saga chronologically,
and for this reason it deserves more credit than it gets,
i'm inclined to think it may be better than ep2 but i'll see when i review that one. although its not in my top 3 of the first six films it does a great job at keeping the franchise in a good place as long as you can look past some iffy cgi and iffy cgi comic relief!!