Review of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) by Kman5473 — 25 Feb 2019

What happens when you take one of the biggest franchises of all time, its creator and his never-revised first draft script for a prequel, and then surround him by enablers? Nothing good. The aesthetics of the characters is there, certainly, but every decision made is lacking precision and second, third, and fourth thoughts in its execution.

Jar Jar Binks is supposed to appeal to the younger audiences, but was taken too far and became a caricature that only annoyed most. Darth Maul is a villain with with a ton of potential...but then is killed off without any further character development.

These decisions, clearly, were based on merchandising statistics vs great storytelling motivations. A kid-friendly character sells better as a stuffed animal/pillow case than a villain, right? Add to this dialogue that is incredibly difficult to penetrate and understand for an audience member that is supposed to be driving the plot forward.

Add to this dialogue that is really cliche and dumb that is supposed to entertain the kids. Total loss of tone in the story.