George, you can't make a movie with a mouse!! (spoiler)

Rating: 2/10 (9 March 2006)

This is an example of how technology can render actors impotent, mislead a director, bury the story-making process and basically result in a film that looks like a video game.
I'm sure you've heard endless comparisons with the original trilogy, episodes 4, 5 and 6. You know what those films had going for them that this one doesn't have? Focus on the story.
This isn't a film, it's an advertisement for Lucasfilm's digital effects prowess.
Apart from the over-digitalization of anything and everything, let's look at the story. We know Anakin needs to get to the Jedi and become apprenticed. Really, all the good stuff happens NOT when he's a kid, but when he's older. They could've done Phantom Menace in a half-hour and taken Attack of the Clones for the next one and a half, and set us up for Episode 3 earlier.
But no, Lucas wants to show us how clever his digital effects are. So he puts us through a pointless racing sequence, a gratuitous land battle that doesn't add anything to the grand scheme of the saga, and a space battle of no consequence.
George, you can't make a movie by moving your mouse cursor excitedly over your graphics program, OK?