High Expectations Almost Doom Film

Rating: Null/10 (11 June 2000)

Getting people to watch this movie was not going to be a difficult task for George Lucas. He could have shown home videos of himself mowing the lawn and it still would have made millions of dollars if he had attached the Star Wars label to it. That said, he also had an almost impossible task of living up to the sky-high expectations of devoted Star Wars fans, some of whom were known to buy tickets to other movies just so they could see PREVIEWS of the upcoming Star Wars entry. In addition, Lucas also had to introduce and set up five other movies with this film. (Three of which are already made, with two more promised to come)
Given that this is the first of six movies, it's not really fair to rate it by itself. It will be more appropriate to judge how it fits in with the next two movies. Since I don't have the luxury of viewing those next two films yet, I'll have to rate this picture based solely on its merits. The special effects are spectacular, (what did you expect?) but the story, dialogue and characterization leave much to be desired. When you analyze this picture, you realize that nothing really happens. The characters just move in circles, presenting information and details that the audience presumably needs for future films.
Even though the special effects are a strong point in this movie, they are sometimes over-used. An example is the pod race. This sequence is at least three times too long, and extremely boring. Its only purpose seems to be to showcase Lucas' talent for visuals and does nothing to advance the plot. It could have just as easily been removed completely and it wouldn't have been missed. The same could be said for the character of Jar Jar, although a reworking of his personality would have been more appropriate.

The dialogue is clumsy and full of tired expressions that went out 6 years ago. Example: "That has got to hurt." (If it went out of style 6 years ago here, just think how old that expression has gotten a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away)
Part of the reason so many Star Wars fans were disappointed with this entry was Lucas' failure to understand his audience. Most of the people (this writer included) who were anxiously awaiting the release of this picture were big Star Wars fans as children when it originally came out. However, most of those audience members have grown up and presumably have become more sophisticated in what they find humorous. This could explain why so many people strongly dislike Jar Jar's attempts at humor.
Overall, this isn't a bad picture. It's not a great or even a very good one, but it doesn't belong on any worst films lists, if only for the tremendous visual appeal that it offers. This movie suffers from high expectations, but perhaps the next film in this series won't endure the same fate.