Star Wars for Kids?

Rating: 6/10 (14 January 2012)

At first I did not like this movie very much, but the second time I watched, it turned out to be OK. It didn't give very much for the old Star Wars fans, but seemed more like trying to recruit new fans from a very young public.
Episode I is definitely not the comeback the original Trilogy deserves, but still makes a decent movie. I usually hate kid actors, but Jake Lloyd does a really good job in my opinion. The same doesn't go for all the actors though.
The plot itself was alright. I like how it was somehow really obvious that Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious played everyone for getting the place as Supreme Chancellor, but still did it so smoothly. Otherwise the plot was very plain: Jedis rescuing people again and again while destroying droids in exchange of stormtroopers.
One thing I really dislike was Jar Jar Binx. He was annoying all the time, he was stupid and contributed with absolutely nothing. He did absolutely nothing useful at all in the entire film. It was like the jokes were for 6-year-old children. Then I got thinking, maybe this movie was really meant to attract a younger audience? I mean the whole tone of the movie was really friendly to children. Why was George Lucas ignoring the old fans?
Otherwise it was at times creative with some of the animations and details, making it able to stand up for another view. My opinion, it's not a bad movie, but it seems a bit too childish to be able to take it seriously.