So why is it that this film gets criticized so negatively? Where did George Lucas go wrong? Did he go wrong? In part, yes, and in part, no.

     Part of the reason this film got bashed by so many Star Wars fans was because of the fact that it was massively over-hyped. Think back to November 1998, when the first trailer for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace premiered. People paid full admission price to a movie they did not care about, just to see this trailer. This movie was that important. One might remember that once the trailer hit theaters, one could not go to any public place without seeing some sort of ad for the film. Whether it would be cardboard stand-ups featuring the characters from the new film, massive banners in the theater, or book stores putting new Phantom Menace books out on display near the store's entrance, etc. - the film was everywhere. Of course, one cannot forget the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut adds on TV that advertised their toys and posters from the film. This is but a taste of the huge hype-machine known as The Phantom Menace (from this point on, the film will be referred to as "TPM"). Sure, Lucas endorsed the advertising. Some of it was poorly done, or overly done. But it was really the media and the fans that over-hyped it, as they built it up to be some sort of spiritual awakening, when really it was just another movie.

     People could not get enough of the hype, as was apparant with the rampant TPM toy craze that occurred when the new action figures for the film were released in early May 1999. This film was a movie destined to fail in one way, and succeed in another. It failed to live up to the public's ridiculously over-hyped expectations and preconceived notions, as fans of the original trilogy had been waiting for a new Star Wars film for 16 years. They had been imagining what the prequels would be like ever since Lucas announced back in the 1980s that he would go back and tell the story of how Darth Vader and the Empire were birthed into existence. Nevertheless, the film did succeed at the box office, despite the media trying to convince the public otherwise. Millions went and saw it again and again, which gave the appearance that most liked the movie quite a bit. Usually people go see a movie more than once because they liked it.

     So where did all the disappointment come from? Part of it has to do with the fact that Lucas was a bit rusty in his ability to make a film and know his audience. He was under the impression that kids were his prime audience, thus he included many kiddy-friendly things in TPM, such as Jar Jar Binks. It is true that kids are one main audience, but they do not make up the majority. Who did he think would be out late and lining up to the very first midnight screening of the film anyway? Little kids? No, it is true that most of Lucas's fans are young adults - and they are the ones that are the most vocal.

     The other part of the disappointment is that this movie was the most anticipated movie of all time. Star Wars is the biggest movie franchise ever to be conceived, and so it was inevitable that no matter what, people would criticize this film - even without Jar Jar. People went and saw it, being excited just to see a new Star Wars film on screen. People generally liked it. But, as time passed by, and the idiotic media criticized it, people started getting influenced by the dark side. The brain-washing techniques of the media have great influence on the weak-minded.

     But, not all the problems lie with the media. Young adults in and of themselves just tend to be quite cynical these days. For example, they criticize modern CGI effects as if they are bad, when in fact they are light years ahead of the way it used to be, with stop-frame animation, matte paintings, etc. All one needs to do is watch about ten hours of old Flash Gordon serials from the 1930s and 40s (which was one of the influences of Star Wars), as well as a few other cheesy 1950s sci-fi films, and one can clearly see just how good we have it with modern special effects today. [On a side note, they still use much of the old technology, such as model-making, prosthetics, etc. In TPM, Lucas integrated much of both CGI and old film-making techniques. Even models were used quite extensively througout the prequels, with at least 1,000 or so per film.]

     With TPM, young adults are overly jaded about the most ridiculous things. For instance, yes Jar Jar Binks did not work for them, and I do not blame them, as he did not work well for me either. But it seems that because the character was featured so prominently in the film and he was so annoyingly goofy, that people failed to objectively look at the rest of the film and how cleverly put together it was. They find one bad thing in it, and so the rest of the movie becomes obscelete. "How wude." Either that, or things that are good are perceived as bad because they could not get over the other kiddy-friendly aspects of the film.

     Yes, I believe that Jar Jar was the sinking ship in this otherwise astounding film. He was a good idea, but he ultimately did not work for most people. But neither he, nor George Lucas are the primary cause of the let down. It is a combination of jaded, brain-dead youth, and the media being able to brain-wash the brain-dead. Those people let Jar Jar ruin the rest of what would otherwise be a good film. Sure, he was borderline ridiculous, but he did not cross the line. Therefore, it still is possible to like this film if we just objectively look at what else is in there. I think one will find more good in the film than bad, if one just blanks out the bad to begin with. The film goes from a "crap" or "bomb" rating to 2 1/2 or 3 stars easily, which constitues it being a decent film.

     So, in this analysis, we'll look at what worked, what did not work, and what people thought did not work but actually did. I think the majority of the film works well as far as the story and action is concerned. And, now that the saga has been completed with the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, one should be able to go back and watch TPM through the rose-coloured filter of Revenge, and see that TPM's story is brilliant. Let us first provide responses to the complaints commonly associated with the film:

     1) "Jar Jar Binks ruined the film."

     Let us get this guy out of the way. Jar Jar Binks, while a creative and innovative idea, ultimately did not work well. Why? Probably because his speech was too indecipherable, he was too goofy and annoying, and there was too much of him. If one recalls Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, his character was ultilized much better there, as they toned down everything about Jar Jar that got on the nerves of die-hard Yoda-heads back in 1999, and there was less of him. I do not hear anyone complaining about Jar Jar ruining that film (although they have other complaints, which are mostly ridiculous).

     Jar Jar's speech, and the way he always seemed to get in the way really annoyed viewers as well. Kids related to him because he acted just like kids. Kids are great, but they can annoy heavily, cause many accidents and get in the way - just like Jar Jar. This drives youth and adults crazy. So, to have a two hour Star Wars film consist of approximately one and a half hours of Jar Jar being goofy, causing accidents and speaking nonsensically just drove older viewers mad. This makes sense, especially since none of the other films have a character like Jar Jar in it, and they worked just fine for people of all ages. If there was less of him in TPM like there was in Attack of the Clones, that would at least be tolerable, even if he is not as grown up as he is in Clones.

     Either that, or just make the humor more witty and clever, and not so idiotic. For example, when he is in the battlefield, have him pick up a gun from a defeated battle-droid and try to use it, instead of him bumbling around making a farce out of the whole thing. There are quite a few clever comedic possibilites there that would not be quite as goofy and cartoony, yet would preserve the idea that he is clumsy. Then, have him actually figure out how to use the gun after screwing it up a couple times. This would make him still funny, but yet he would take his first step in maturity as the General he was just declared to be by Boss Nass. I would love to see Jar Jar kick some butt with a gun. I think people in general would have loved his character then. Have him mature within this film, rather than in the 10 years between Episodes I and II. Show us his growth.

     The other part that people criticize is the look of Jar Jar. I think those criticisms are invalid for the most part. What happened with TPM was that Lucas is a techy who loves to experiment - particularly with special effects. So when the idea of digital characters came along, he could not pass it up. He really could not pass it up, so much so that he decided that he wanted a digital character to be a main character who tags along with the good guys. We now know that this can work brilliantly, as The Lord of the Rings trilogy created the character of "Gollum" who worked on every level. Of course, the special effects were better for him than for Jar Jar, since Gollum was created a few years after Jar Jar was. But Jar Jar was still very photo-realistic with the way he sat in space and time. Light and shadow, as well as the other real characters in the film interacted with him quite well. His skin texture was well-rendered too. The problem lies not with his look, but rather with his movements and his speech. He moved and talked too much like something off of the Cartoon Network. His look had nothing to do with his being cartoony. Our minds tend to play tricks on us like this from time to time and we need to learn how to recognize when our mind does this. He looked real. He just did not feel real.

     I still have to give Jar Jar credit. He is the classic wise fool who accomplishes something great. He unites the two segregated societies on Naboo. Jar Jar deserves his rank as General as far as this is concerned. His heart is pure and innocent, and he just wants to help out. We cannot honestly hate him for that, unless we ourselves are heartless. So since Jar Jar is in the film, and there is nothing we can do about it, let us ignore what did not work and focus in on this character's heart. He really is somewhat likable, even if his antics are not.

    Like what was said before, Jar was the sinking ship in this film. But the audience does have the abilities to plug the holes that are causing that ship to sink. After all, why let one thing ruin the most anticipated film of all time, especially since he was not a total loss to the plot?

     2) "The plot sucks."

     The first question I ask people who say this is, "Why?" Usually they cannot even tell me what it is about, let alone give an explanation as to why they would say such a thing. That is partially Lucas's fault, but it is mostly the audience's. And, because the audience did not understand it, they wrote it off saying that it does not compare to the originals.

     I say otherwise. Sure, audiences could understand the surface story with Anakin Skywalker and the Trade Federation. But the idea of the Trade Federation being the evil presence in the movie did not seem very threatening, as "these Trade Federation types are cowards," as Qui-Gon Jinn once said. The "taxation of trade routes" just sounds boring and makes audience members scratch their heads. What does this have to do with Darth Vader, the Jedi becoming extinct or the birth of the Empire?

     It also upset people that the Sith Lord Darth Maul, who was pictured on just about every marketing campaign for the film, was not in the movie for any more than about five minutes. Why not have him in it more, since he was so cool? Everyone loved the double-bladed lightsaber, and simply wanted to see more of it.

     The problem was that people could not sense the impending evil that was underneath it all: Darth Maul's master, Darth Sidious. People like their villians out in the open, not plotting behind closed doors where we cannot see them. They need an evil personality to connect to. Sure, he was in the film briefly. We see him dictating to Darth Maul what to do occasionally. But ultimately, he remains "elsewhere; elusive" as Obi-Wan senses in the beginning of the film. This is fine, but we the audience should have been let in on some of the elusiveness. This would work, just so long as the characters are not let in on it. I do not mean that we should see everything Darth Sidious says and does, but just a couple scenes more of him and Maul plotting. That is it. It would make all the difference in the world. And Sidious's identity could still be hidden the entire time, making him still elusive and phantom-like.

     Yes, Darth Sidious is "the phantom menace." Because Darth Maul was plastered everywhere with every ad for the film, people thought he was the phantom. Darth Sidious is the one acting like a phantom and being a menace to the galaxy. But the surface story of finding Anakin and defeating the Trade Federation does not really show this yet, except that Sidious was controlling the Federation. So what? What does that have to do with anything? Why is it interesting?

     The trick is that the Senator from Queen Amidala's planet of Naboo, Senator Palpatine, is the same person as Darth Sidious. Of course, with the release of Revenge of the Sith, everyone knows this. But many did not at the time of TPM's release, therefore they missed out on why the film was titled "The Phantom Menace" in the first place, thus they thought the plot was dumb. Many have since avoided this film ever since they saw it, failing to realize that they may gain a different perspective on the plot, now that they have seen Revenge of the Sith. If they would just watch TPM again, after seeing Revenge, they would be thinking more about what Palpatine's doing, rather than everyone else, thus seeing the film's plot for what it really is: Genius.

     Palpatine is playing both sides of the game throughout the entire prequel trilogy. In TPM, he is the Senator from Naboo, whose planet is being invaded by the Trade Federation. But, since he is also Darth Sidious, he is the one who commanded the invasion to take place. So, he is invading his own home planet. Why on Earth (or should I say, "Naboo") would he do that? Because he wants to gain sympathy in the Senate so that when they see that the current Chancellor, Chancellor Valorum, is just delaying and not resolving the issue at hand, they will want to vote him out and choose someone else for the role of Chancellor (which is President of the Universe, basically) who they think will solve it better. Who else would be better to solve it than the very person whose planet is being invaded? Thus, by the end of the film, Palpatine has become Chancellor. This is great writing here, folks.

     With this new power, he has the ability to manipulate the system however he wants, as we see throughout the course of the prequels. In Attack of the Clones, he has Count Dooku create a Clone Army that starts a war with the Separatists, which in turn allows Palpatine to stay in office longer than his term would normally allow. And, in Revenge of the Sith, he uses his power and the war to set up the Jedi, making them look evil, therefore justifying their extermination and the birth of his evil Empire. The Sith now rule the galaxy. But none of this would have happened without his ingenious manipulation of both sides in TPM. He never would have been in power.

     So, the story appears much more involved when taken in the context of the entire saga. People are just so dim-witted these days that they fail to realize just how wonderful the plot of TPM really is. All they saw was the finding of Anakin, and the defeat of the Trade Federation, but failed to see the importance of it all. One cannot know why the Trade Federation was so important unless one looks at the rest of the saga. These films are meant to work as one creative piece split into six episodes. And TPM is a great introduction that sets all the pieces into place. Yes, the movie is goofy and too kiddy at times. But the plot is significant and well-written nonetheless, and it is worth noting. It is not bad just because the movie is kiddy at times.

     3) "Why did Lucas make this film so light, and not dark like the originals?"

     First of all, who is anyone to say what the Star Wars saga should be like? Who ever said that the Star Wars movies always have to have a dark overtone to them? Ultimately, it's George's call.

     Secondly, in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope when Ben Kenobi is talking to Luke about the times when the Jedi were the "guardians of peace and justice of the Old Republic," he said it was "before the dark times...before the Empire." Now when he states this, he's specifically implying that there was a time in the Star Wars saga which was not that dark. Now, if he would have said "before the darker times," or "before the darkest times," I'd give in to this argument because then Kenobi is implying that the time of the Old Republic was still a dark time. Therefore, declaring that these six movies should all be dark. But, that's not what he said. In TPM, were only being shown the more peaceful and light time in the Star Wars saga (even though there are some bad political issues going on). In A New Hope, Old Ben Kenobi is implying that there was a more light and peaceful time, and here it is - right in front of us.

     4) "The midi-chlorians ruin the mystical aspect of the Force. Now, instead of it being an energy field created by all living things, it's the cells in our blood."

     Repeat after me: THE MIDI-CHLORIANS ARE NOT THE FORCE!

     "Midi-chlorians are a microscopic life form that resides within all living cells... We are symbionts with them... Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force."
- Qui-Gon Jinn

     Qui-Gon never says that the midi-chlorians are the Force. And he does not say they create the Force either. They only serve as a way of communication between people, and the Force. This explains much better why there are only certain people who have Jedi potential. It does not take away from the mystical aspect of the Force. The Force is still the same thing we've grown to love. We can all still use it. It's just that now we know why certain people have Jedi potential, and why others do not. Jedi simply have more midi-chlorians.

"But then this means that no one but the people who have a high midi-chlorian count can be Jedi. I liked it better that anyone could become one if they put enough effort into it."

     Not everyone can do everything. Can anyone do that human pretzel act like those people in the side show at the circus? No, but yet we accept it. Can anyone be a born genius? No, but we accept this too.

     This argument begs another question: When does the old trilogy imply that anyone could become a Jedi? To me, it seemed like becoming a Jedi was Luke's destiny. Destiny seems to play a big part in the original movies, not only with Luke but with other characters as well. The midi-chlorians only emphasize this.

     The midi-chlorian concept works well because of the fact that people start training to become Jedi when they are very young. I am not sure as to what exact age this is, but the 9 year-old Anakin in TPM was declared too old, so it has to be younger than that. My guess is at around 4-6 years old.

     The point that I am trying to make is this: What mother would let their kid go and train to become a Jedi at such a young age unless it was inevitable that it is the kid's destiny? What kid at that age would be able to make an intellegent decision about how the rest of his/her life should be? What mother or father would even think that the kid knows what's best for his/her life? None. But because of the midi-chlorians, the parents can accept that it's their child's destiny, therefore they will let he/she go pretty much without question, just like what happened with Anakin in TPM.

     Since the old trilogy, it has always been implied that the Jedi were supposed to be trained at a young age because Luke was in his late teens and was told that he was too old. Yes, "young" could have meant around 16 years old in the old trilogy. But even at this age, parents still would not agree that one could make a decision of such epic proportions intellegently.

    The midi-chlorians prove to be a better method of identifying Jedi hopefuls, than to have tryouts from all corners of the entire galaxy, lined up from the Jedi Temple doors to the end of the universe! The midi-chlorians make becoming a Jedi a practical reality.

     5) "Those battle droids are stupid!"

     There are many reasons one can think of as to why this is. But I will tell you what I think.

     The battle droids are dumb. They cannot make good enough decisions. "Um...wait...um...that doesn't compute...uh wait uh...Your under arrest!" They can't process information like humans or other creatures in the Star Wars galaxy can. This gives Darth Sidious a clue later down the road that he should maybe use humans instead of droids because people can think more intelligently. So he decides to create the Storm Trooper armies which consist of clones in Episodes II and III. This also gives us the feeling that by the time of the old trilogy, things are more advanced.

     6) "The Pod Race is stupid!"

     These complaints are stupid. But I will humor the brain-dead audiences anyway.

     The pod race is in the movie primarily for two reasons. The first reason is because it emphasizes Anakin's hightened force abilities. In the film, Anakin exclaims, "I'm the only human who can do it." No other human being can fly a pod racer, which makes Anakin unique. It proves to Qui-Gon that he was right in sensing that Anakin is not your typical human being. Based on this, and the fact that he was conceived by the midi-chlorians (which lines up very nicely with the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the force), Qui-Gon Jinn now has no doubt in his mind that Anakin must be trained as a Jedi.

     The other reason is for entertainment purposes. People felt it was pointless to have it in there, but it is an exciting action sequence that not only is fun to watch, but also conveys Anakin's abilities visually. Sure, George Lucas looks for excuses to toy around with digital effects. But at least this excuse is a good one. Perhaps it could have been shorter, but ultimately it had a valid purpose for being there.

(I will say that it did get too goofy at times. But overall it was an amazing sequence).

     
     7) "It had bad acting."

     It is permissable to say that Jake Lloyd's performance as Anakin was not exactly riveting. But, in the context of who his character was, his performance was spot on. He conveyed exactly was one would expect if one would find a boy who is supposed to be innocent, and knows nothing of greed, and who is, above all things, a normal kid. He acted just like one. I think some kids in film are too grown up. It is more realistic when a kid in a film actually acts like one.

     I will admit that some of the dialogue given to Lloyd was abysmal.

"Hey! Let's try spinning! That's a good trick! WOOOOAAAAHHH!"
"Sand storms are very.....VERY dangerous."
"I'm trying to stop! I'm trying to stop!"
"It wasn't my fault, REALLY!"

But this is very minute. He kept his cool during the rest of the tatooine scenes, particularly in the Pod Race. He was almost spooky with how he maintained control of his pod the entire time.

     The Jedi, particularly Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, have been said to have been boring and emotionless, and the dialogue worthless. But keep in mind that these are Jedi Knights, who are to show no emotion and to have the most serious mind. They are supposed to be this way. Look at Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, and how he was very calm and emotionless as a Jedi. His emotion comes out when he fights Vader, but that is to be expected, since he did not train in the Jedi order like Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon did. They were more experienced Jedi Knights, capable of restraining most of their emotions. But we do see that Obi-Wan was quite broken up about Qui-Gon dying. Obi-Wan was in tears. And we also know that he was quite broken up about Anakin turning to the darkside in Revenge of the Sith. There simply just were not that many emotional circumstances for the Jedi to deal with in TPM. Maybe there should have been more. But Liam Neesen and Ewan McGregor acted just like how Jedi Knights should act. As far as dialogue is concerned, well, they are not supposed to have emotional attachments. They are very anti-social people, so one should not expect for their dialogue to be perfect.

     Queen Amidala has been accused of the same boring, monotone dialogue. But she has to keep her cool when addressing her people and their politics. She also kept her speech very simple and monotone so that her decoys could mimic her voice more easily. So, it works. Whether one likes this or not, that is a matter of personal taste, just like the trait of Anakin actually acting like a kid, or the Jedi Knights being boring. The actors acted just like what the characters were supposed to be, and so if one does not like it, then go watch something else.

     One must not forget that the original trilogy had bad dialogue in it as well. It was fitting for the characters, but nonetheless bad - particularly with Luke in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, when he whines and whines (particularly about power converters and wanting to go to the academy), as well as the dialogue between Han and Leia in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Of course, those who disagree will say to me, "I don't know where you get your delusions, laser-brain." Do people really talk like this?

 -------------

    Aside from the above rebuttals, this film has a lot to offer. One cannot deny that the lightsaber battle with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon against Darth Maul was the best lightsaber battle in a Star Wars film up until Revenge of the Sith. That, and Maul's double-bladed lightsaber was a brilliant idea. I, like most people, wanted more of Darth Maul. But what we did get was awesome.

     The special efffects are top notch, especially with the new planets we go to. Naboo and Coruscant are awesome sights to behold. Coruscant is realistically dizzying to look at when staring into its abyss of skyscrapers.

     We also get to see the Jedi in their prime. The opening sequence with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fighting on the Trade Federation ship is still quite entertaining. Also, it is the only sequence in the entire saga where we see Jedi use the "force-run," where they run at an excelerated speed. I wish they would have implemented this into the rest of the saga.

     The underwater city of Otah Gunga where the Gungas live is truly spectacular. Some people say they do not like it, but I gather that this is mostly because they do not like the gungans themselves. There is nothing wrong with the look of the city itself, nor with the creatures that inhabit its surroundings. I found this to be one of the most breath-taking locations we go to, even if the scene is a bit long.

     It is not a bad film, except in the eyes of people who fail to look beyond what they did not like. Sure, it has its flaws. It desperately needed a character like Han Solo, or a wittier Jar Jar - different enough from Han to make him unique, but also not so cartoony like Jar Jar. The original trilogy did not need a Jar Jar type character for kids to like it, so the new ones did not need this type of character either. As we clearly can see with Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the saga is just better without him. But TPM does not become a bad film because of him. Jar Jar just instigated the distain of things that are not really bad.

     Another things that Lucas should have added was human troops fighting alongside the gungans in the ground battle. Sure, there were dead gungans in the background, but to see humans get shot and die hits closer to home. Lucas also should have had the Han Solo-type character in there or, like what was said before, made Jar Jar more witty and clever. Then have him die. We would have then built a connection to someone we like, and mourned for his death in the field. The ground battle in TPM is completely lifeless. Amusing to watch, but it lacks two elements that makes a war intriguing - humanity and the death of a loved character.

     All in all though, TPM is a much better film than people give it credit for. Is it flawed? Yes. Is it a bad movie? No. It is upsetting when people find one or two things they did not ilke, and they discredit the rest of the film, even if the rest of the film is good. Because of those bad things, whatever is good becomes bad anyway. People should try to filter out what immediately did not work for them in the film, and look at the good and see if it comes out on top. TPM, I believe, comes out on top. It is goofy, and at times it is annoying. But ultimately the plot and how it fits into the rest of the saga works brilliantly, and some things people thought were bad are really not.