No really, it's OK. Just OK.

Rating: 5/10 (4 December 2015)

I loved this movie when it came out. I was just a kid, and I remember playing out the fight scenes with friends for a long time afterwords. Quoting it as best as we could from memory. If you had asked me back then, I would have given it as high a score that you would let me.
I've seen it several times since then, and gradually, over time, it's gone from "Fantastic!" to "Terrible!" to "Ok" - and the last one is where I am at now. This movie does a lot of things wrong, and it deserves a lot of criticism. Everyone else has pointed it all out lots of times before, so I see no reason to go into it all again here. Jar-jar Bings is an obvious example, and while I don't mind having a goofy comic relief character (like the bots in the original trilogy), this guy lacks all the charm and the warmth that such a character should have. Another annoying part of the movie is all the talk about the trade federation and signing the treaty and so on. While it's all very much a McGuffin (if I'm using that term correctly), it's an annoying one, as it is elaborated on over and over again.
But the movie also have some scenes that are great fun. I still enjoy the pod race today. The saber fights are not as fun now as they used to be, but it's still great to see fights with light sabers happening. I love that droids have personalities in the Star Wars movies, something which is neatly carried over to the prequels. There's lots of little easter eggs too to look out for, which I also enjoy. The CGI is dated, but the universe is still great fun.
This review makes it seem like it's a movie with lots of highs and lows, but it's more correct to say that it's OK all over. Many of the annoying and great elements happens around each other, at the same time. You can't just skip the boring parts (something I know many fan-editors disagree with), as they are very much a part of the Star Wars universe now. Love it or hate it, this movie is here to stay, and I guess I am thankful that it isn't worse. But it's also sad to think about what could have been.