Much better than the first, - but then you could probably figure that out without even seeing it!

Rating: Null/10 (9 June 2002)

*Rather minor spoilers*
Yes so I'm adding my review to the myriad of reviews already up there. One more review never hurt.
So we all know how bad "Episode 1" was. If there was ever a lesson that children should NEVER be in movies, this was it. Anyway, before I get too upset and make this a review of "Episode 1", I'll move swiftly on.
Shock horror! It wasn't that bad actually! Natalia Portman, it must be said, can not act. Everyone seems to have it in for Hayden Christensen as Anakin, but personally I didn't feel he was even half as bad as the disastrous performance of Portman.
McGregor put up a decent performance as Obi-wan, although some of his lines were astonishingly tacky. All that was missing from the line 'I hate it when he does that' is a glance towards the camera, and a wink. If you've seen the movie, you know exactly what I mean.
Moving on, I'm going to have to pick on Lucas for his CGI. He obviously prides himself on the visual storytelling because at times it looks fantastic, but... other times it just looks plain disastrous. One of best examples of this is the ugly looking 'pear feeding' scene. When Portman bites into the pear, it's so obvious the pear is computer generated as to be almost insulting to the audience! Her mouth doesn't even touch it! And....why oh why won't CGI producers learn that riding computer generated animals will ALWAYS look terrible! Another example is when Obi-wan is talking to Jar-jar. He's quite clearly looking 'through' him because he doesn't exist. But that is minor compared to my previous two issues. In regards to my hate-of-children-in-movies issue, Bobba Fett was so irritating! I wish Lucas had left out the whole 'shoot him dad! shoot him dad!' scene in space where Obi-wan is getting shot at through the asteroid field. I was very bugged by Bobba Fett, and not just because he, for some reason, had an Australian accent. Ban kids from movies please! :D
Ok, so moving onto the story-line. Not exactly a killer story. I was bored through a lot of the political jargon, but I did enjoy the movie as a whole. I didn't enjoy the 'stomping press' scene though as it looked like a bad excuse for a messy video-game. I feel that entire part should have been cut. Also, a lot has been said about the Yoda fight scene. It is undeniably 'cool' to watch, but, and this is a big but - it will make the audience laugh. Now, this is a tense fight scene between good and evil. Are you really supposed to be laughing? Did you laugh at the fight scene between Luke and Darth Vader in 'Return of the Jedi?' One has to question Lucas here, but I'll leave that for you to decide.
Well to sum it up, apart from the cringeworthy lines thrown up here and there, it wasn't bad. The only thing is, almost a month down the line, I've almost forgotten it. I remember enjoying it, and giving it a 7/10 in my head as I left the cinema. Heck, I even wanted to see it again. Now however, I'm not really excited to see it again except on DVD. Not really the sign of a true classic is it now?