Jaded critics, lost childhood, and the best movie I've seen in years

Rating: Null/10 (22 May 1999)

Parable: Three men went to see Star Wars: Episode I. "I'm expecting to hate it," the first man said. He wanted to hate it and so he hated it. "I'm expecting the best movie of all time," the second man said. He was sorely disappointed, and so he hated it. The third man shrugged. "I'm just expecting a movie..." He didn't make it out to be something it couldn't, or go in with some sort of vendetta, so he loved it. That third man was me.
Past the hype, the jaded critics, and those who just had too much nostalgia in mind to like The Phantom Menace, I found a gripping movie that I'm glad to say fits well with the Star Wars series, and deserves to be in such good company.
And let's all face it, a lot of these complaints are pure bunk once you've seen the movie with an impartial mind.
Complaint#1: The kids that play Anakin and Amidala are horrible. Yeah, right. With the exception of Anakin's horribly placed and cheesy sounding "Yippees," I couldn't notice a single flaw. Anakin looked happy, sad, worried, surprised, and all at the perfect moments. And I believed Amidala's concern for her people.
Complaint#2: It's too CG. My mind told me "Wait, CG..." every once in a while, but that was no fault of the CG. If we didn't know somewhere in our minds that Boss Nass or Jar Jar couldn't be done with puppets, we wouldn't notice at all. The CG was seemless.
Complaint#3: The weakest of the series. I have to admit at first I thought that. But that was because I couldn't make out half of the lines of dialouge since there was a group of screaming annoying 15 year olds in the front row clapping and cheering everytime ANYONE came on screen. Now that I've read the script, I know that it deserves to be placed right up there with the rest.
Complaint#4: Jar Jar was annoying. I couldn't make out his language at first, but he was in no way irritating. He was the comic relief for the children, and he made me laugh too most of the time. Darth Maul doing impressive flips and saber moves isn't enough to attract little kids, and let's remember Lucas likes to make family films.
So let's put this high and mighty attitude behind us. Go see the movie expecting a movie, not a nouveou film forged from God's hands. And if you've already seen the movie and clamped up, try to open your mind and see it again. Or read the screenplay. It's well worth it, if you keep an open mind, and the fun-loving movie attitude of a child.