You Thought the Ewoks Were Lame?

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2013)

The little teddy bears from Jedi were actually pretty cool when compared to Jar Jar Binks, the single worst character in the history of the Star Wars franchise. He's even more annoying than Hayden Christenson's Anakin Skywalker, which is saying a LOT. This was the first Star Wars movie where George Lucas brought in what were essentially cartoon characters, and there were times I didn't know whether I was watching a Star Wars movie or a space alien version of Roger Rabbit.
I have the same complaint about this flick as I have about the other two "prequels." Poor acting (except of course for the great Liam Neeson), boring characters (kind of goes with the bad acting, but also with poor character development), banal dialog, and a plot that takes a backseat to all those neat effects coming out of Skywalker Ranch. Plus there are too many unnecessary characters, Jar Jar being a prime example. But also, Liam Neeson notwithstanding, the Qui Gon character didn't need to be there either. They could have had Neeson play Obi Wan..he certainly would have been more interesting than Ewan McGregor, and Neeson's age was more in line with where Obi Wan's would have been 30 years earlier, given how old Obi Wan looked in the first Star Wars. Mcgregor was too young looking, which hurt the story's continuity. Ditto Anakin Skywalker. He should already have been a teenager at this stage. That said, as much as Jake Lloyd got panned for his performance, I actually thought the kid did OK with what he had to work with (especially when held up next to Christenson in the subsequent flicks). There were also unnecessary plot devices which added nothing to the story (i.e. Padme's "double.") The bottom line is that I didn't care much about what happened to any of the characters. No amount of action and dazzling computer effects can make up for that (I had the same problem with the old Battlestar Galactica, which had Star Wars type of effects, but again, characters that did not draw me in).
On the plus side, besides Liam Neeson, one of the finest actors of his generation (like Alec Guinness, he can take boring dialog and make it interesting), Phantom Menace has the single best light saber sequence in the history of the franchise. You don't realize how slow and lumbering the sword fights in the first three movies are until you see the Mach I pacing in this one. Other than the fact that he looks like a multi-horned Satan, Darth Maul is actually pretty bland until you see him fight..ninja style with his double ended light saber. Fun stuff.
Overall, Phantom isn't bad..but it could have been better.