Ah yes, the dawn of a new Star Wars movie has arrived. This means that I have another chance to attempt to make it through the prequels in a potentially ultra-movie-marathon. Well, I surprisingly made it through The Phantom Menace and surely will not be able to finish the prequels before I see The Last Jedi. In my view, The Phantom Menace is the worst Star Wars film ever created. However, I cannot speak about the holiday special since I have not seen it and it may or may not exist according to Harrison Ford.
There is an overwhelming majority of people who claim that Attack of the Clones is the worst film of the franchise, but for many reasons I disagree. Attack of the Clones at least gives us better CGI effects than the first film does. Everything in The Phantom Menace seems extremely fake and poorly made. George Lucas (Raiders of the Lost Ark) got a bit carried away with the effects and it detracted from the already half-hearted storytelling. Honestly, puppet Yoda could've carried this movie much better than the CGI Yoda did.
Unfortunately, the storyline also carries no weight in the franchise. The whole reason for the prequel trilogy was to set up Darth Vader, but Jake Lloyd (Jingle All the Way) is a poor choice for young Anakin. We are also introduced to other characters who carry no weight in the franchise, ranging from Qui-Gon Jinn to Jar Jar Binks. I'm assuming that everyone reading this review is familiar with the flaws of Jar Jar, so I won't go into a long rant about Lucas's terrible writing/casting decision for this one. However, Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, The A-Team) is wasted in the role of Qui-Gon and that is unacceptable. Lucas brings in big actors and tears them apart with his poor storyline for the prequels.
The Bottom Line: After the original trilogy, George Lucas lost his touch with the Star Wars franchise.
Score: 3.5/10
There is an overwhelming majority of people who claim that Attack of the Clones is the worst film of the franchise, but for many reasons I disagree. Attack of the Clones at least gives us better CGI effects than the first film does. Everything in The Phantom Menace seems extremely fake and poorly made. George Lucas (Raiders of the Lost Ark) got a bit carried away with the effects and it detracted from the already half-hearted storytelling. Honestly, puppet Yoda could've carried this movie much better than the CGI Yoda did.
Unfortunately, the storyline also carries no weight in the franchise. The whole reason for the prequel trilogy was to set up Darth Vader, but Jake Lloyd (Jingle All the Way) is a poor choice for young Anakin. We are also introduced to other characters who carry no weight in the franchise, ranging from Qui-Gon Jinn to Jar Jar Binks. I'm assuming that everyone reading this review is familiar with the flaws of Jar Jar, so I won't go into a long rant about Lucas's terrible writing/casting decision for this one. However, Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, The A-Team) is wasted in the role of Qui-Gon and that is unacceptable. Lucas brings in big actors and tears them apart with his poor storyline for the prequels.
The Bottom Line: After the original trilogy, George Lucas lost his touch with the Star Wars franchise.
Score: 3.5/10
