Relearning appreciation

Rating: 7/10 (26 June 2020)

Just recently rewatched this film, inspired by CinemaWins, and found lots of good things in it. I love it when people care about the work they do, and The Phantom Menace has many instances of that. So much effort went into music, sound design, casting, CGI, costumes - in fact, if you divorce it from the dialogue, the acting is mostly spot on. (Except for the painful dinner scene on Tatooine, no one was good in it). I was one of those people who watched the prequels before the Original Trilogy and to me Obi Wan Kenobi will always be Ewan McGregor first and Alec Guinness second. First impressions work like that. Liam Neeson managed to create this mystic, this eccentric Jedi who's more of a priest than a warrior. The fact that I understood what kind of a character he was back when I knew precious little about acting - or warrior monks - tells me he did a good job. Ian McDiarmind is so much fun to watch in every scene he's in. Natalie Portman's Padme is an awkward teenager, as I now realise she should be (she's what, fourteen?), and Pernilla August's Shmi Skywalker is the perfect selfless mother of a messiah.
Jar Jar Binks...is a burden we must bear, but he is frankly the only thing about this film that I hate unequivocally. I remember loving the prequels (and especially The Phantom Menace) as a kid, and I'm glad to discover some of that warm feeling is still there. I love the distinct sound each podracer makes. Hell, I love Queen Amidala's dresses. There, I've said it. Some of those crazy designs stayed with me for years. Gungan City blew my mind twenty years ago and it still remains one of the more original designs that modern fantasy and sci-fi sorely lack. Coruscant and Naboo were such a welcome reprieve from all the desert planets that seemed to be mandatory for sci-fi films and TV series in the 80s and early 90s (I'm looking at you, Star Trek, Stargate, Dune, Enemy Mine, and others). Yes, The Phantom Menace went back to Tatooine as well, but at least it offered an alternative.
I'm glad I have this film another chance. Growing up in the 90s' Khmelnytskyi was tough, but Star Wars helped me get through it. For that, I shall always be grateful.