Just Re-Watched THE PHANTOM MENACE
...and it was actually entertaining on this go round. (Eep! XD)
Some highlights:
-Jar-Jar was pretty cute, really. (Double eep! XD) I think the only problem is that he could have been taken out without impacting the plot or characters too badly. Or they could have at least rewritten him to be more entertaining and likeable. If I'd been writing Jar-Jar, I'd keep the slapstick to a minimum and mostly have him be...well, more like Chewie and less like...well, Jar-Jar. (And please lose the painful slang; it kind of breaks my heart. :( )
-Little Anakin was also cute. Jake Lloyd wasn't a bad actor; he mostly suffered from George-Lucas-trying-to-emulate-M.-Night-Shyamalan syndrome. Seriously, if Anakin was aged up a bit, the plot would have been enhanced a little. First off, Anakin's the protagonist, but because he's nine, he doesn't really get to do much. :/ Second of all, I'm not saying little kids should talk in baby talk, but let's say that some of Anakin's lines just...well, poor Jake Lloyd couldn't really get his mouth around them and that kind of brought him down. :( Lucas should have been producer instead, or at the very least, gotten some feedback about his dialogue. Such as, "Hey, George, this has a lot of potential, but the dialogue's kind of off..." (It's a good thing Lucas at least has a sense of humor about it. XD)
-Liam Neeson's made of win, but Qui-Gon...there's kind of a continuity issue. I think Qui-Gon belongs in an entirely different movie. I'm thinking in my hypothetical rewrite, I'd try to find a way to integrate Qui-Gon. I love Qui-Gon long time (XD) but let's say he just doesn't fit. Plus, removing him kind of allows Obi-Wan to do a little more. I think the real problem with The Phantom Menace is that there's a lot of talk and not enough people doing things. It gets people restless. And when your audience wants to turn off the movie and go and do something else, it's just death for your movie. :/
-I think Natalie Portman and Pernilla August were really the best actors in the movie. They just gave a lot of heart to their characters (which may be one reason why I didn't turn the movie off). Hell, at least the Phantom Menace has a degree of heart, even if it's pretty shoddily executed.
So bottom line, the real problem with the Phantom Menace isn't special effects (they're quite beautiful really), continuity issues, and so on and so forth. It's just a movie about people sitting around and talking, and not really doing much. It might as well be an Exposition Clinic. It does fit into the puzzle of the prequels in the end, but really, it deserved a little better. *Pets it* :)
Thoughts? Comments? Rotten tomatoes? Speak. :)
Some highlights:
-Jar-Jar was pretty cute, really. (Double eep! XD) I think the only problem is that he could have been taken out without impacting the plot or characters too badly. Or they could have at least rewritten him to be more entertaining and likeable. If I'd been writing Jar-Jar, I'd keep the slapstick to a minimum and mostly have him be...well, more like Chewie and less like...well, Jar-Jar. (And please lose the painful slang; it kind of breaks my heart. :( )
-Little Anakin was also cute. Jake Lloyd wasn't a bad actor; he mostly suffered from George-Lucas-trying-to-emulate-M.-Night-Shyamalan syndrome. Seriously, if Anakin was aged up a bit, the plot would have been enhanced a little. First off, Anakin's the protagonist, but because he's nine, he doesn't really get to do much. :/ Second of all, I'm not saying little kids should talk in baby talk, but let's say that some of Anakin's lines just...well, poor Jake Lloyd couldn't really get his mouth around them and that kind of brought him down. :( Lucas should have been producer instead, or at the very least, gotten some feedback about his dialogue. Such as, "Hey, George, this has a lot of potential, but the dialogue's kind of off..." (It's a good thing Lucas at least has a sense of humor about it. XD)
-Liam Neeson's made of win, but Qui-Gon...there's kind of a continuity issue. I think Qui-Gon belongs in an entirely different movie. I'm thinking in my hypothetical rewrite, I'd try to find a way to integrate Qui-Gon. I love Qui-Gon long time (XD) but let's say he just doesn't fit. Plus, removing him kind of allows Obi-Wan to do a little more. I think the real problem with The Phantom Menace is that there's a lot of talk and not enough people doing things. It gets people restless. And when your audience wants to turn off the movie and go and do something else, it's just death for your movie. :/
-I think Natalie Portman and Pernilla August were really the best actors in the movie. They just gave a lot of heart to their characters (which may be one reason why I didn't turn the movie off). Hell, at least the Phantom Menace has a degree of heart, even if it's pretty shoddily executed.
So bottom line, the real problem with the Phantom Menace isn't special effects (they're quite beautiful really), continuity issues, and so on and so forth. It's just a movie about people sitting around and talking, and not really doing much. It might as well be an Exposition Clinic. It does fit into the puzzle of the prequels in the end, but really, it deserved a little better. *Pets it* :)
Thoughts? Comments? Rotten tomatoes? Speak. :)