Another pan

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 2001)

I too was very disappointed by this movie and here's why:
1. Editing: Most of the shots in this movie seemed to go at rapid-fire pace, uncharacteristic of the other three movies which often had long, slow, loving shots--think Luke looking out at the double sunset on Tatooine, John Williams' slow dramatic score in the background. Phantom Menace looks like it was filmed by an MTV crew.
2. Jake Loyd: He was way too young. Anakin should have been 12-14. Yoda's concern that he is too old to begin Jedi training would make more sense, not to mention his piloting of the pod, future romance with Amidala, tension with Obi-Wan, etc. He was also written too happy. We should have been given a glimpse of a brooding adolescent or some small act of cruelty--he's too innocent.
3. Midochlorians: Force germs?! This is terribly disturbing. I will surely get a lot of disagreement, but Star Wars is NOT Sci-Fi. I repeat, STAR WARS IS NOT SCIENCE FICTION!! It is Epic, a different genre with a different asthetic. Don't believe me? Compare the trilogy to Star Trek which is Sci-Fi through and through. Epic doesn't require explanations for things like the Force--it is mystical, not scientific or biological.
4. The special effects: Overdone. Overkill. Nothing looked real. They're just not that convincing. It looked very cartoonish. I like real sets and real actors.
5. The cast: As mentioned in other reviews, they were quite wooden. Not enough Darth Maul (too bad he was killed off, what an interesting villain he could be). And I'm not sure Qui-Gon was completely necessary. R2 and C3PO shouldn't have been in it. Or at least they should have left out that dumb R2 award ceremony, that was insulting to our intelligence.
6. The politial machinations: Something was awkward about how this part of the plot was handled. It seemed much simpler in the first movies.
7. Jar Jar
8. And other things: Tatooine seemed too populated. The top of a skyscraper seems an unlikely place for the Jedi council. Why did the Jedi Council travel all the way to Naboo at the end? Anakin and his mother seemed to have an awful lot of freedom for slaves. Why would battle droids have to talk aloud to each other or have to see holograms to get orders? Lando communicated straight to that guy's head in Empire and we knew what was going on because the viual storytelling was clear.
I'm willing to give the movie a little slack in that more of it might make more sense later once we see the other two prequels. Also, it is hard to live up to the expectations we had built up for it. And I am willing to buy the Jedi Council's ignorance of Palpatine's evil ways because hard to see the dark side is. The only things I found truly better than in the originals were the light saber battles. They were well choreographed, executed, and shot. In a storytelling sense they showed us what well trained Jedis in their prime could do back in the golden age of the Republic, something only hinted at in the first movies.