HOW EASILY PEOPLE ARE INFLUENCED BY HYPE!

Rating: Null/10 (2 June 1999)

If this were not a Star Wars film, people wouldn't even think twice about this film. Their comments would say things like, "It's a nice movie to take the kids to see". As of this writing, this movie is already ranked #64 on IMDB's top 250 films...it goes to show just how easily people are influenced by hype. George Lucas himself has stated that the target audience for this film consists of teenage males. Yet people who are quite grown have made comments here in which they try to look for reasons to make this film seem great, when it's not anywhere near great. It's not a terrible movie, but it's too much of a kiddie film, and has WAY too much computer animation. This movie will become a success at the box office (inevitably) and it won't be because it deserves to be a success, but because hype has an overwhelming influence on some people, who will go back to the theater to see it over and over again. What was George Lucas thinking??? This movie looks like a mixture of a Disney movie of the week, a Saturday morning cartoon, and the movie "Toy Story". It's incredible how much computer animation was used in this film. All the emphasis was placed on the visuals...TOO MUCH emphasis. The visuals were very beautiful, but not enough emphasis was placed on the story. Don't get me wrong...I love the original Star Wars movies. I have them on video, and have seen each one of them countless number of times. But this film is so UNLIKE the original Star Wars movies. If a person who hasn't seen the previous three Star Wars movies goes to see this film, they won't really understand what's going on. They'll think this is just some movie about a young queen trying to save her planet. In the other three movies, "the force" was a very significant element--it was almost like the intervention of God. In this film, the whole concept of "the force" is almost nonexistent. Lucas should've let this film be directed by the guy who directed "The Empire Strikes Back" (which is the best Star Wars film--even Leonard Maltin gave it four stars). I'm not going to get into specific details about characters or scenes, but I will say that the movie was lame enough, but Jar-Jar totally DESTROYED the movie for me. If I were to see this movie again, it would be to admire the visuals, nothing more. Some users have made comments that people who go to see this film with high expectations are going to be disappointed, thus end up not liking this film. I disagree. What ACTUALLY HAS happened is that some Star Wars fans who LOVE this film have gone to see this film with preconceived notions: since it's a Star Wars film, they automatically assume that it's a great film, and that's why THEY like it. They're not seeing this film for what it really is: mediocre. If I had to describe this film with one word, that word would be "unbelievable", but not in a good way. This film is unbelievable in the sense that I can't believe that THIS is a Star Wars film.