Rather silly and dull movie, but the beautiful images and great sound make it worth a watch.

Rating: Null/10 (5 January 2004)

This second prequel is similar to the first, but here Jar-Jar Binks isn't as obnoxious and his short screen time didn't detract too much. The story is silly, a far alien planet is manufacturing an army of clones of a bounty hunter and the Jedi knights have to travel to keep peace. There is a tremendous final battle scene, a bit over long and over done. No 'travel time' is depicted anywhere in the movie, so we in effect have people traveling many, many light-year distances in a very short time. Plus, when they communicate over very great distances, it is virtually instantaneous like a cell phone call. I suppose they figured out how to greatly speed up light speed.
My bigger complaint is the acting. Natalie Portman was not a good choice. Even though I am a fan of hers, and she was just perfect as the mature little girl in movies like 'Beautiful Girls' and 'Leon, the Professional', in the 'Star Wars' movies her acting is very wooden, her changes of vocal and facial expression are almost nonexistent. Although she is striking in her tight white costume, she comes across as just an older version of her little girl characters. It could be that she is simply very limited as an actress. However, Ewan McGregor once again was very well cast as Obi-Wan.

I enjoyed the movie for what I intended, just a fun movie with a great sound track and gorgeous images. However in total it is a silly, simple movie and just a shadow of the movies which represent the original Star Wars Trilogy.