Star Wars Episodes I & II 2-Pack (2002, VHS)

I first saw this movie while it was in theaters in 1999 when I was only 12 years old. I had yet to gain respect for the original three for their superb acting, cast, story, atmosphere and special effects and while watching this film through my adolescent mind, I thought it was an excellent action movie. The reason I perceived it to be good is because that is the age level that Lucas was aiming for. It is obvious that Lucas was going to make a fortune off the next three prequels and it appears that he decided to screw the fans of star wars and cash in on a mediocre piece of garbage. Now that I am somewhat older, there is no hiding just how utterly awful this and the next two films are.

The acting in this movie can be compared to the power rangers who have over dosed on Ritalin. No life, no enthusiasm, no sense of the actors really even tiring to put any effort onto the screen. They just seem to be going through the motions all in a monotone voice, and those are the non-CGI characters (the jokes sucked to say the least). Also, with the introduction of Jar Jar, Lucas apparently wanted to make episode 1 as big of a disappointment as possible; how could someone in their right mind insert such mindless character? The only comic relief that Jar Jar will bring is to those under 10 years of age a real slap in the face to Star Wars fans. On another note, the droids in this movie didn t have any kind of evil, dangerous feel to them like the storm troopers had.

The plot humm. Lucas has gone with the flow of most action films lately, in that there is practically no plot. Since this is the first star wars film in the series, there should have taken it easy for us to introduce all the characters and let us learn more about their personalities. Everything is rushed; we get no breaks at all in this movie, just constant action. The Pod race scene wasn t even necessary; it provided nothing for the story and was only inserted for filler, 20 minutes of filler.

The only this that was remotely positive about this film were the special effects which were still somewhat of a let down, not in it s authenticity of realism, but everything looked super high tech and clean. Lucas should have tried to keep the 1970 grungy technology feel to everything like the original star wars, which would have helped it really feel like a prequel

I am harsh on this movie because of just how well made the original three Star Wars turned out and the high standards they accomplished. Although a somewhat entertaining popcorn flick, I can not enjoy it because of the injustice it does to the original three. It doesn t deserve to belong to the Star Wars legacy.