Not nearly as awful as many think, but there ARE some glaring faults!!!

Rating: 7/10 (14 May 2005)

First of all, Hayden Christensen rocks, y'all!!! If Lucas had picked Ryan Phillipe instead, it would not have worked. Jonathan Jackson??? I forget who else. Thank God they didn't get picked!!! Hayden embodies what Anakin is all about. He's damn gorgeous first and foremost, and his first very dark moment is superbly acted!!! Bad acting, overacting, bah!!! Whoever says this stuff doesn't know what they're talking about, either that or the actor they were voting for didn't get this iconic role. Either way, Anakin's anguish and rage and hate are evident when he murders the Sand-People and then when he confesses everything to Padme. "They're animals and I slaughtered them like animals!!! I hate them!!!" God, what do people want???!!! I was fully aware of the "quick, easy" path of the Dark Side when I saw this!!! Hayden Christensen IS Anakin Skywalker, and his performance is one of the high points of this less than perfect installment of Star Wars.
The other great things??? There really are quite a few. The love story is convincing. Maybe people will always remember Han and Leia as having the most memorable love story, but Anakin is not a cocky anti-hero and Padme is not a smart-alecky orphaned princess. Every character, new and old, has their own personality. What did people want??? A lot of groping and smooching??? I wasn't all that offended by some of the "hokey" love lines between the two. They teased each other, talked a lot about their roles in life, and eventually fell in love. There was probably a lot of love there even when Anakin was only 9 and Padme was but 14. Anyway, the romance element was just fine. I believed the two loved each other, so the purpose was served.
Big faults: Way too much CGI. The chase of the changeling on Coruscant was good. The attempted executions using clawed and fanged beasts wasn't too bad, but so many cartoon characters!!! The slobby friend of Obi-Wan's who worked in a diner. The Kaminoans. The Genesoans. The droids that fought the Jedi and the clones. Heavens to betsy, there is such a thing as overkill. Luckily, the CGI didn't overwhelm the story as badly as it could have. The pacing is more confusing than PHANTOM MENACE I should also point out. The end was confusing. And maybe that was intentional...are the clones really to help the Jedi and the Republic, or were they made especially for the Separatist movement and the Sith??? While AOTC is not the best of the new STAR WARS trilogy (I think REVENGE OF THE SITH will definitely take that title) the harsh criticism it has gotten isn't deserved.
I DO think ATTACK OF THE CLONES wasn't a good title. It should have been simply THE CLONE WARS BEGIN or something.