Attack of the Clones: Not as bad as people make it out to be

Rating: 7/10 (14 July 2010)

I am a huge fan of Star Wars. I am also not the best critic, so I don't usually give things low ratings unless they really were bad. But I don't believe that Attack of the Clones was that terrible. Allow me to explain.
I loved the original series. I think those movies were great. The Characters were amazing! The movies were action-packed and dramatic, yet hilarious too, and the action and comic moments didn't interfere! The Models looked so real, if you told me when I first saw it when I was 6 that they were CGI, I would have believed you! Everyone did their best. Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, etc. They were all so great!
Now the new series is not nearly as good as the old series, but I believe that the prequel trilogy is SERIOUSLY underrated. They aren't as good as the old movies, but they are still amazing movies! It shows a new side of things. It brings something new to the plate. It shows how Anakin was able to turn from an innocent boy to the menacing Darth Vader. It showed how Palpatine set up the trap that destroyed the Republic and created the Empire. It dug deeper into what it meant to be a Jedi, and how we can be easily led astray if we let our guard down. It gives us 2 paths. The Path of Luke, and the Path of Anakin.
Now that I have done some explaining, it's time to do what I wrote this review for. To review Attack of the Clones. I do agree it did have many flaws. I do agree that there was a lot of CGI in this movie. However, I do not think it was just to advertise its special effects. If you want a movie that does just that, go see "2012" or "At World's End." This was one of the weaker movies, but it was still amazing.
If you look closely, you see a lot of parallelism in the trilogies. "Phantom Menace" and "A New Hope" both introduced to us the characters. A major character has a major loss (Obi- Wan/Luke). The main character destroys the ship that is causing all the trouble (Anakin/Luke). The main character comes from humble origins (Anakin/Luke). The same thing happened in "Revenge of the Sith" and "Return of the Jedi" (my 2 favorites of the series). Except there are some opposites. Anakin and Luke choose different paths. But they each fight someone close to them (Obi-Wan the mentor/Darth Vader the father). Palpatine has set his plan in order. But the results are different (Destruction of the Republic/Destruction of the Empire). In one we see great sadness (Padme's funeral and Creation of Darth Vader) and in the other we see great joy (Celebrations throughout the galaxy). We also see parallelism in "Attack of the Clones" and "Empire Strikes Back." We see the characters evolve from what they were in the first movie into what they will be in the third.
In "Attack of the Clones," we see many things. We see how Anakin struggles with the loss of his mother (Luke struggled for his friends who were in danger). We see how Palpatine sets up the plan that will slowly destroy the Republic. We see what started the Clone Wars, which Palpatine used to his advantage. We see the Jedi Order starting to crumble. It wasn't the best Star Wars, but it was still Star Wars.
People criticize its flaws. They say that Anakin acts like a selfish brat. That is exactly what a young Darth Vader would be like! Anakin's anger got the best of him, and consumed him. We see that he has always struggled between good and evil (just as Luke did, on the Second Death Star). They say that there was too many special effects. I feel like the special effects didn't detract from the story. It's not like they animated all those battle scenes for no reason. They needed to show the intensity of the fight. The plot was a little confusing at first, and I feel it could've been better, but it was still better than other major series installments (such as Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).
All in all, it wasn't as strong as the other Star Wars movies, but it was still Star Wars, and I thought it was amazing! 9/10, because it had some flaws.