Disappointed...again.

Rating: 4/10 (18 May 2002)

AOTC is not bad but then again it is not great, or even good, it is however better than TPM. First of all, George Lucas either cant judge acting for the life of him or he just doesnt care and instead prefers to work on his creatures. I can imagine Samuel Jackson coming up to him during filming and asking him how he should play a scene with Lucas replying "Do whatever Sam, I'm trying to figure out how many weird looking aliens I can get in this shot." When very respectable actors such as Jackson and Natalie Portman cant bring something to a role then there is something wrong. Hayden "Should be in N'Sync" Chistenson is so wooden I wanted to make a cabinet out of him. Only Ewan McGregor decides to act.
I've looked over the reivew proclaiming this to be the best ever, that's to be expected, there are some who watch Lucas on the can for 2 1/2 hours and say it was great.
Aside from the obvious script and acting problems, why must everything be explained? What happened to mystery or leaving it to the imagination? Is it really necessary to explain how(through a stupid continuity) C3PO came to be or show a pre-fried Uncle Owen?
I could go on but what's the point. While better than the Phantom Menace, it is a mere shadow of the previous trilogy.
I'd give it a 4/10.