Natalie Portman. All is well.

Rating: 6/10 (12 May 2002)

I was fortunate enough to see a preview screening of this movie. I am not a big star wars fan, in fact, i'm not a star wars fan at all. I do appreciate a good movie though. And this is a decent movie. The acting towards the beginning is adequate at best. I also found Anakin Skywalker to be rather dislikable for the first 30 minutes or so.
For me, this movie had two redeeming factors. One, Natalie Portman is amazing in it. If she wasn't in the movie, I would truly dislike it, because every other character is hideous. Ewan McGregor has a nasty looking beard throughout, and Hayden Christensen has some weird rat tails, and behaves somewhat awkwardly. Portman really smooths over the look, feel, and flow of the movie.
Two, Yoda is very likable in this one. He's not just some guy sitting on the sidelines making backwards comments. His character is vastly redeemed.
A few downright corny puns are to be expected from C3PO, and those are delivered.
I guarantee this movie is more popular that it is good, but that's always the case with Star Wars nowadays.