Star Wars Disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (28 May 1999)

Let me start by saying I am a big fan of Star Wars and I regret that I have to write this negative review.
I believe the Star Wars movies defined science fiction cinema. Sure the 3 movies were not perfect, but they created a believable and thrilling world. This world has now been turned into a Disney theme park for George Lucas, I really wish he never made the Phantom Menace because it hurts the world we loved so much in episode 4, 5, and 6. Below is a simplistic way to review the movie but let me try to split the phantom Menace into sections:
30% Action Sequences. Now the action was great. That is it looked great, it was thrilling and the music was good. Though the digital effects looked great I still found the spacecrafts look a lot cooler and realistic in the older Star Wars movies. Grade B+
30% Bad jokes, irritating digital characters, and bad dialog. Waaaay too much comic relief in this Star Wars. It often felt like I was watching Toy Story. Especially the Jar Jar Banks character. The digital characters when they had real actors in the same shot with them looked fake. Also the older Star Wars had bad dialogue but this one can make you squirm in your seat. Even young Anaken got irritating with his "Yippeee!" Grade F
10% Cinematic Grandeur. Beautiful Princess costumes and beautiful cities and scenery. Grade A
10% Regurgitated plot. Was there any suspense to this movie? No. You have the typical get to know the characters start, the war, the sword fights and the award ceremony at the end. Now I know that part 1 is difficult to write because you have to introduce new characters but still.. Grade C
10% Serious Star Wars. The emperor, the two Jedi knights, Darth Maul these are interesting characters, especially Darth Maul he didn't speak or interact and wasn't on screen for more than 10 minutes. But hey instead we get 2 full hours of Jar Jar. Grade A
Also you can tell a lot about a movie from the reaction of the viewers. Or in the case of the Phantom Menace the lack of reaction. Everyone was in the mood to watch a great Star Wars movie. People cheered 5 times before even the first scene was shown. And then that was it. Total silence for the rest of the movie. If you heard a laugh it was forced laughter. The only good lines were delivered by C3PO and R2D2.
Also in regards to digital vs. the old style Star Wars "puppets" and spacecrafts. I think digital is the easy way out. It is less work. And it looks FAKE. The only thing digital is good for is spacecrafts, and cities etc. Ten years from now when people look at the Phantom Menace they will laugh and how bad the digital effects are.
Sorry but I am looking forward to the next Matrix movie, not the next Star Wars.