By itself, enjoyable. By precedent, horrible.

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 2001)

Okay, let's ignore the meticulously detailed, paradigm-shifting "Star Wars IV-VI" trilogy. Let's also ignore the fame of Lucas, and the "only in America" mammoth budget. Hey, I liked this movie! I DID enjoy it. It was action-packed. It had some new looks. It was everything I expected out of a "Star Wars" movie, and then some.
Okay, amnesia trip over. Yeah, this was a nasty belly flop, eh? The plot made no sense, Jar-Jar was a migraine, and of course all the actors were cast for looks, not talent. The only thing worse than the cast was the corny script they had to work with. I fantasize that Haley Joe Osment turned down the role of Anekin out of self-respect. Of course, this wasn't exactly a prequel to "Citizen Kane", so I wasn't expecting spiritual enlightenment. But just as an example, there's a big similarity between freedom-fighting (not council-bench-warming) jedi and U.S. presidents, isn't there? Yep, all clean-cut white boys. Okay, so the council had Sam Jackson there as the token black guy, but were any of the bug-eyed aliens female, then? (Lucas' heroines can be spunky royalty or jedi baby factories, but not true jedi. Hmmm. . .)
Well, one way or another, I got my six bucks' worth at the theatre; it was an enjoyable afternoon. Of course, I only saw it once, and don't plan to again. A fun ride, but I seriously doubt this is what film critics and "Star Wars" fans waited over a decade for.