The Phantom Menace

So earlier today, I watched Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace. I've been googling why people hate the prequels so much because I never realized/knew [until a couple of months ago] there was such hatred that's been going around since the prequels came out coming from "original" Star Wars fan. These people have been and still claiming the prequels have no substance in them. I can kind of see that with the Attack of the Clones movie.. but at the end of the day, to me it's still Star Wars.. I can't complain.

So I decided to re-watch the Phantom Menace today with my brother to review it. From the years I've watched Star Wars over and over again, the Phantom Menace has become one of my least favorite out of all of them. It's ironic because this is the same movie that introduced and made me fall in love with Star Wars. I grew tired of this movie (other than the fact I've seen it a million times) because I began feeling this movie lacked the story and action I'm so accustomed seeing in Star Wars movies.

One of the complaints "original" Star Wars fans complain about is their claim Star Wars have become nothing more than CGI effects rather than using the same technology that George Lucas used back when he made the original trilogy (props, make-up, etc.) That is mainly true in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.. but nobody can blame Lucas for using CGI.. he would've used it before if he had the chance.. the technology was just not available at the time. But I'm bringing this up because I noticed a handful of scenes in the Phantom Menace aren't CGI at all. If you don't know what I'm talking about, compare the explosion scenes and buildings/background objects in the Phantom Menace to Episode 2 and 3.

After watching the Phantom Menace today, I realized how stunning this movie is. It's not as bad as I've concluded in the past. If you pay close attention to the movie's details, you will truly appreciate this movie. From the costumes, make-up, CGI, stunts, etc. Even with Jar Jar and the Gungans' presence in the movie (which was the reason I grew tired of the movie), the movie is still nice, although I still think George Lucas could've used the funds he spent on developing the Gungans on something better.

But after reviewing the movie, I fell in love with the Phantom Menace once again because in my opinion, it captures both the original trilogy and prequels' essence so perfectly. It's balanced between traditional Star Wars and new Star Wars.

-M.C.