Really not that terrible.

Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2006)

A huge Star Wars fan myself, I'll always say the originals are better than the PT (except for maybe RotS, which is tied with the originals IMO), but that doesn't mean the PT is utter crap. Like any movie, they aren't perfect and have their flaws. Attack of the Clones is no different. There are definitely some boring scenes, BAD dialogue, crappy editing, so on and so forth... but it's not shite like many other Star Wars fans say.
Being a girl, I have to say I like romance mixed in with all the action, which can be found in other movies like "Sin City". The biggest problem with AotC is that's exactly what is supposed to happen, and it...does...kind of. The love story between Anakin and Padme was so horribly underdeveloped, or at least executed poorly. How are they supposed to be in love? Because Anakin thinks she's pretty, and she's attracted to whiny men? I don't get it. Lucas really needed some help on that entire portion of the script. If he had accepted help from other screenwriters, maybe a general audience would have believed these two are supposed to be in LOVE. And, as it has been said before, the romantic dialogue really needed tweaking. I won't say it's horrible, but it's far from good. It lacks any sort of real emotional depth or personality for the character.
My second problem with AotC is Count Dooku. Who the hell is he? We don't even see the amazing Christopher Lee until the final half-hour of the film. He was another mysterious, undeveloped character in the PT, almost as if he were simply thrown into the mix of things just to be a villain. I must say I really enjoyed his lightsaber duel with Yoda, so at least he had one really good fight scene.
The third problem is the editing. Some scenes dragged on way too long, others were cut too short. I also think a few of the deleted scenes should have been left in for the sake of character development. It might have added a longer running time and taken away from the "action" Lucas was so obsessed with in the PT, but at least we would have been able to know the characters better.
The 4th and biggest problem I have with Ep. II is the MAJOR lack of a good soundtrack. John Williams is my favorite movie composer of all time, and the Star Wars saga would not be the same without his music. I'm disappointed he didn't do better on this installment's soundtrack, save for the "Across the Stars" theme, which is absolutely gorgeous. However, it's the only great song on there, unlike the other Star Wars official soundtracks. Sad, really.
Despite its' flaws, Attack of the Clones is not an awful movie, and still one of my favorites despite the bad parts. It's a fair 5th installment in the Star Wars saga, and well worth a viewing, maybe even two or three.
See it if only for Yoda. In this one, kick major ass he does. =)