An *ALMOST* Clone of the First

Rating: 4/10 (6 April 2014)

Georgie Lucas stated, and I am doing this from memory, that he does things his way and ignores criticisms or outside influences. I doubt this is true, because he must've learned at least one lesson from the backlash after Episode I during the making of his Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones: 98% less Jar Jar Binks.
Sadly, Jar Jar does make an appearance and even has a line or two, but he's extremely more tolerable this time around, as was the movie.
Now, we haven't gotten to the quality and heart of the original Star Wars trilogy in this Episode (#2,) but we have improved from the last (or first) installment.
Basically, little Annie Skywalker has grown a bit in both his Jedi abilities and under the belt for his "angel," Padmé, but beyond their horribly written and acted "love" story, comes the building of two sides of war.
If you know the story – and you should by now, it's past the time for spoilers here, it's actually a crafty story of one man controlling both sides of the war. I absolutely admired that, plus the villain who controls both as puppeteer.
Sadly, there is so much that gets in the way of this being a great or even mediocre film. The purposely terrible acting and laughable dialogue by our leads does remind us that this is Georgie's world. Every time I wanted to love this or take more interest in, Georgie does all he can to bring it back to his under-toddler mind.
It also didn't help that this is not only a bridge story, but all three prequels could've easily fit into one movie. Unfortunately, as the title suggests, there's got to be an I, II and III.
I actually didn't hate this movie or the experience as much as I did with The Phantom Menace. There is enough good in here to praise, such as C-3PO's endless amount of comic relief, some decent special effects, fun action sequences and best of all: Yoda in action. That scene ALONE is worth the entire movie viewing.
While I made a silent vow not to see this again, I would recommend for first time viewers to begin with I and drudge through until you get to the goods, or in this case: IV-VI.
* * * Final thoughts: Growing up, my two favorite Star Wars characters were C-3PO and Yoda. I might take back my promise and re-watch this sometime in the future if I have another Star Wars marathon in mind. Again, despite the constant interferences of potential greatness by Georgie, there's enough to see here for a ton of fun.