Well it could've been worse.

Rating: 3/10 (13 May 2013)

I loved all things Star Wars as a kid, recently after a few years of ignoring them, I decided to rewatch them. The prequel trilogy has been me asking myself "why the hell did I like this crap?" with the only exception being Episode 3 which was watchable. The other two are complete crap.
Firstly the two redeeming features - Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson. These two not only prove they can act (although what is there to prove) but they can carry an entire film on the weight of their shoulders. The only other redeeming feature that I can find is the fight between Darth Maul and the two Jedi. That is probably the one sequence or event that I actually enjoyed (besides Jar-Jar's tongue going numb but that wasn't for the same reasons - that thing shut his mouth!). Maul is something I can take lightly. Ray Park had huge shoes to fill when becoming a new Star Wars villain. Especially when the previous Star Wars villain has become the definitive movie villain (Darth Vader) so that I can let slide.
Now onto the bad parts. Thank you Mr. Lucas for creating the most annoying character in cinema history, Jar-Jar. I struggle to think of anyone else who was more annoying. This is coming from someone who has loved The Fifth Element since he was 7. The difference is that Chris Tucker managed to make the character of Rhuby Rhod REALLY ANNOYING and Bruce Willis, for most of the Tucker's screen time, wanted to tear his head off and spit down his neck. Hence its funny to see them on screen together. Here Jar-Jar is as audible as a Lithuanian baby trying to speak Mongolian and everyone treats it as okay that a grown thing speaks like a retarded, incontinent goat with rabies.
Jake Lloyd is as miscast as the next Darth Vader, Hayden Christensen. Vader came off as really threatening. So Lucas says "Hey I want to make one of the most threatening movie villains of all time...why not let him say 'yippe' a lot during this film. Most kids do that anyway." This is like casting Michael Jackson as Dorothy in an adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz...nothing could possibly make it work.
With the new Computer Generated age Lucas has thrown in entire backgrounds and characters that were CGI. The only thing that is left unharmed is that Yoda in this one is still a puppet. Sam L. Jackson was laughable. I even yelled out as a riff "Enough is enough! I've had it with these mother f#cking Sith in this mother f#cking series!" but he was only in it because he especially requested it.
Overall, yes it is bad however it is not "so bad its unwatchable". This film did have a few things going for it. All it needed was a few more things and we'd be left with a decent film...if only.