10 good and bad things about this movie

Rating: 5/10 (17 July 1999)

I've watched the movie & the original trilogy, read the books & comics, collect the figures & so on. I'm a fan. But I have a mixed feelings and opinion regarding Episode 1, which best described by these points.
10 GOOD THINGS : 1. Great effects. Lucas has managed to paint the StarWars worlds closer to his imagination with ILM technology. The Naboo palaces are elegant, beautiful Gungan city, hi-tech Coruscant and well-designed Battle Droids.
2. Professional actors and actresses. It's amazing to see some of the heavy-caliber actors/actresses and hot newcomers casted in the movie. Ewan is a perfect substitution for Alec Guinness, Liam has the charisma and posture meant for a Qui-Gon, Natalie's characterization has strength plus she has this intellect and sweetness in her image, etc.
3. Loyalty to the original trilogy. You can finally see how the Jedi (and the rest of the galaxy) are (were) like before the Empire rules. They are more liveful, energetic and colorful. All this without the expense of the Jedi tradition. You can see how the designs of settings, costumes and vehicles (although they seem to be more advance) will later contribute to the designs in the original trilogy.
4. I welcome the cameo appearance of some of the original cast. A. Daniels as 3PO, K. Baker as R2, Ian McDarmid's Palpatine, even Warwick Davis is there.
5. Great costumes. The Jedi cape has distinctive personality according to the one who wears it, without eliminating the uniformity of which is clearly Alec Guinness' OB1's costume. Amidala's costumes are meticulously designed with much Japanese influence.
6. Spectacular lightsaber fighting scenes. On the desert, in the hangar and the last one. Specially the last one. I think Lucas and his team want the best battle choreography done as the climax. When American audience has been exposed to fast-paced Asian action movies (Hongkong and Japanese anime), they have to increase the standard of this fighting scene to cope with the audience demands. And they did.
7. Not all things are explained which make me impatient to wait for the next episode. Lots of loose ends need to be tied here. Hopefully they are meant to be that way and not because of some fault in the narration.
8. Lots of 'delights' planted in the movie. Some for fun, while others I believe actually connected to the rest of the episodes. Try to find out, there are at least 6 'secrets' in the movie.
9. A complete family set. You have QuiGon to represent the old generation/the mentor, OB1 to present the young adult, and young Anakin for the kids to relate to.
10. John Williams is back as the composer for the soundtrack. My personal fav. is the last lightsaber-fight's background music. Nice job there Mr. Williams.
And now the 10 BAD things about this movie which, surprisingly spoken not by the press or non sci-fi fan, but myself and other long-time Starwars fans :
1. Jar Jar Binks & Boss Nass. If Lucas needed to introduce the element of comedy, he should've done it through intelligent comical dialogue (just like what he did with Luke, Han and Leia), not some low grade physical slapsticks (I hate the way JarJar jumps into the water).
2. Target audience. Obviously Lucas directed this movie towards the 6 to 13 year old kids instead of his true long-time fans, who are mostly aged 20 to 40 by now. Perhaps this is also because of the fact of him being a father. We all can use the humour, but to what level exactly? The children seem to be the ones truly enjoying the entire movie.
3. Plot is too shallow. The media say,"So are the rest of the episodes' plots." No. The original trilogy were conceived through careful and detailed narration. This was done by having the right chemistry between the characters and the dialogue are meaningful and entertaining. Unfortunately I can't say the same thing for TPM.
4. In connection with opinion #3, the entire movie seems like a series of pacthes of many beautiful and strong scenes. Perhaps the movie is too short, that we are not given enough time to know what is really going on. Or because it's really too simple while we're still thinking if that action really means something.
5. The effects and climaxes overwhelm the characterizations. Too many good things fighting each other. The CG creatures are too perfect, too smooth that you know how fake they are. When the Ewoks die in ROJ, I actually feel sorry for those 'little teddy bears' but in TPM I don't care much what happens to those 'overgrown ducks'.
6. Racism in context of personalization. I know Lucas is merely trying to entertain the kids but isn't he mentally suggesting to the kids, how silly the Jamaican Jar Jar Binks is, how simple-minded the Italian Boss Nass is, how evil the Japanese Viceroys are, and how greedy the-whatever-non-American-Watto is?
7. Anakin is too young. The original script was meant to have a 10 year old Anakin, but the genius Lucas thinks it would be more touching to have an 8 year old to go through all the obstacles. Well, because of this there are odd moments when Anakin interacts which other characters, especially the sexual implication between him and Amidala/Padme.
8. I dislike how Anakin destroys the Droid Control Ship. It looks more like luck than the force. Oops, push this button (there goes the power generator), push this button (the battle (droids are destroyed).
9. The movie seems like a lab-rat to test ILM's new technology. The CG characters truly lack of emotion. The mimics are all there but not the emotions, not the souls. Lucas is better go back to actors wearing costumes and masks.
10. The chemistry between the characters (except for QuiGon and OB1) is lost in the midst of all the excitements.
I can only hope all of our disappointments and opinions do not fall on deaf ears, and that Lucas may have the remedy in the next chapters. So next time, I will be able to write 20 good things about Episode II with 0 bad things.
Thank you.