The Phantom Menace 3D Release

[Set Harth]

But it's an extremely idiotic plot element

There's nothing idiotic about it. In fact, it goes back to Greek myth. You just don't want it, and apparently anything you don't want is labeled "idiotic".

that doesn't even get mentioned again. Ever.

Wrong. It gets alluded to again in the same film, and the concept comes up again in ROTS.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Anakin snaps a little at Padme when they meet for the very first time,

huh?

Yeah. Remember?

Padme asks if he's a slave and he gets angry and says: "I'm a person and my name is Anakin!!" He was obviously quite perturbed at Padme for calling him a slave.

ah ok. I was still on "are you an angel" thing.

 

[Dream]

But it's an extremely idiotic plot element

There's nothing idiotic about it. In fact, it goes back to Greek myth. You just don't want it, and apparently anything you don't want is labeled "idiotic".

Anakin is suppose to be a demigod. That is suppose to explain why he could be so freakish powerful in the future.

 

[DarthPipes]

I just got back from it. The theater was unbelievably packed. There was a line to get into the show itself that stretched back far. A lot of parents taking their kids. Parts of the first two rows were reserved for parties of kids. Not a lot of laughing and cheering throughout the film but most everyone clapped at the end.

Despite the flaws, I found myself enjoying the film for the most part. It's always cool to see Star Wars on the big screen although I thought the 3D was terrible and made the picture dark, especially during the space scenes. 3D conversions really don't go over well.

I think Liam Neeson was still the best thing in the movie. He seems to know how to play the character and it's a shame he never returned, even though his character takes away from the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Pernilla August is good as well as Shmi and Watto is a fun character. Maul still has a presence on-screen and should have been in the film more. The duel at the end is still awesome and probably the only time flesh-and-blood is fighting flesh-and-blood. Coruscant still looks great. Jar Jar didn't bother me. The CGI on the character still looks good and is often overlooked when it comes to the birth of the all-cgi characters. Speaking of which, I haven't watch TPM on Blu-ray so I got to see CGI TPM Yoda for the first time and they did an excellent job there.

Those flaws I was talking about...watching the film again for the first time in a while, I couldn't get over how lifeless the interaction between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan was. That wasn't the only place we see lifeless characters...Padme is when she's in Queen mode. I understand this is supposed to be a more "civilized" time in Star Wars and you're dealing with well-educated Jedi and politicians. But damn, this story really could have used a Han Solo, roguish element. Somebody to really have fun in the story. When they're together (and even when Obi-Wan is alone) they're too dour guys just going through the motions when interacting with each other. No personality whatsoever and you really don't feel a bond between these two. Obi-Wan's sad that Qui-Gon gets killed...do we really care? Do we really feel it?

This film definitely suffers from CGI overload. It still made me miss the flesh-and-blood actors who played the stormtroopers in the original series. When they died, it felt real. Here, we have Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan just cutting through air that's supposed to be battle droids. Almost all of the fighting is this way.

And if you wanted to cut something out of this film, why not the pointless submarine trip to reach the surface of Naboo?

But I did find myself enjoying this film several times, especially during the middle Tatooine scenes.

 

[Mach5]

And if you wanted to cut something out of this film, why not the pointless submarine trip to reach the surface of Naboo?

Because it's a pretty neat action & eye candy sequence?

Anakin is suppose to be a demigod.

Or Space Jesus. That's exactly what I hated about it.

 

[DarthPipes]

And if you wanted to cut something out of this film, why not the pointless submarine trip to reach the surface of Naboo?

Because it's a pretty neat action & eye candy sequence?

Anakin is suppose to be a demigod.

Or Space Jesus. That's exactly what I hated about it.

But it's also five pointless minutes that could have been spent elsewhere.

 

[DWF]

I think it's funny that Lucas is somehow incarnate for editing his movies but it's perfectly fine for fans to want their own edits of the movies.

 

[EnsignRicky]

I thought the film was more or less fine the way it was. More after they fixed Yoda Ho-Tep. This whole 3-D thing though, just seems to me like more proof of how at times, Lucas can be his own worst Ted Turner.

 

[DarthPipes]

EDIT: Actually, I'd take Jake Lloyd out and cast the part older.

Anyone ever watch the Making of docu on the Phantom Menace DVD? Where it shows the screentests of the final three kids in the pipe line for playing Anakin (obviously one is Jake Lloyd.) One is even more cutesy wutesy than JL is, but every time I watch that I think Lucas would have been better of casting the other kid. Ha, he seemed better to me anyway!

I do wonder if Lucas saw Jingle All The Way before casting Lloyd?


Edit- found it here (the Finding Anakin part anyway) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZSnB7yGylc

They showed a picture of Jake Lloyd in the new Entertainment Weekly. DiCaprio actually could have played him because Lloyd looks like DiCaprio now.

That same Entertainment Weekly has an article on Ahmed "Jar Jar Binks" Best. It's quite fascinating.

That Making of TPM doc on the DVD...correct me if I'm wrong. They show the screen test for the three Anakin Skywalker finalists. The first one was young and nervous, the second one was pretty good, not perfect but good. Then they show Jake Lloyd's screen test. He botches a line so badly they have to start over. We then cut to GL and company saying how great he is. Am I remembering that moment correctly?

 

[Broccoli]

So he was believable as a house?

Was it a wooden house?

No. Just... No.

Yes. This is just another example of the shallowness of typical so-called "criticism" of the film. It has nothing to do with the quality of the film. "If Lucas would just take out the plot element that I don't want to accept, the film would be so much better."

There are many problems with TPM. This, however, isn't one of them.

That was his best performance to date. He was also quite good in JUMPER all things considered. That was a pretty decent movie and Christensen's scenes alongside STAR WARS co-star Samuel Jackson were really fun to watch.

Wow, that was a crap movie, c'mon....

I just watched Jumper the other day. Christensen was okay in it. That movie's problems had nothing to do with the acting. At least everyone looked like they were having fun.

I think it's funny that Lucas is somehow incarnate for editing his movies but it's perfectly fine for fans to want their own edits of the movies.

Well, that's different, because fans, not the original filmmaker, are entitled to do such things.

 

[sidious618]

This was my first 3-D film. A number of the trailers were 3-D and they were by and large awful, with tons of elaborate shots that did all of nothing except to say, "Look at me!" The Clash of the Titans one was particularly awful in this regard.

The Phantom Menace wasn't like that at all. The 3-D added a nice sense of clarity and depth to it, I felt, which made it a great viewing experience. The battle droids and the space scenes benefited the most but I was surprised at how good the film looked overall. You could 100% buy that this film was made in 2012. People who criticize Lucas for going overboard with special effects will be surprised to see how tentatively (and wisely) he uses the 3-D.

As for the story itself, I think it holds up really well. It's been a few years since I've seen it and being able to see it in the theaters made me enjoy it more than at anytime previously excepting the first time, when I was 9. Having seen AotC and especially RotS adds a nice layer of tragedy to a film that seems relatively optimistic on the surface.

When it comes to the acting, it's all Liam Neeson. Dude is amazing in this film and his death scene is still a gut punch even over a decade later. I didn't have any problem with Jake Lloyd who acted like a kid which is, y'know, what the character was. Portman was a little wooden but nothing compared to the disaster she'd be in AotC.

So I loved it. One of my best movie theater experiences in quite a while.

 

[cooleddie74]

Just got back from seeing Episode I in 3-D. The theater wasn't jam-packed to the gills with people, but it was pretty full and there were a whole lot of kids who made a lot of noise before the movie started. The most impressive moments of the 3-D presentation were the opening text crawl and the battles on Naboo at the end of the film. The shots of Coruscant's towering skyline were really neat in 3-D as well, and all in all the presentation was worth the price of admission. There were a few wonky moments when the 3-D wasn't terribly effective, but most of the movie looked great and is even more impressive now than it was when the film was new 13 years ago. The kids seemed to love all the different moments of lightsaber action, and there was a lot of verbal commotion when the Duel of the Fates happens near the film's end. One kid somewhere closer to the front even yelled out "WHOAAAA!!!" a lot louder than he probably should have. I had a seat near the middle of the theater so I wasn't too close to the screen and not all the way in the very back...my "sweet spot" for watching movies in a cinema.

It was a very fun night! I loved seeing a STAR WARS film in big-screen 3-D for the first time in my life and the glasses weren't uncomfortable to wear, although any glasses irritate the bridge of my nose if I have them on for very long so I had to take them off and put them back on a few times. The movie was a real kick and a joy to see in a big room full of other people who obviously like or even love STAR WARS. I recommend that you go. You might very well like it.

 

[sidious618]

I agree completely, eddie!

 

[cooleddie74]

For the record? Jar Jar is just as irritating in 3-D as he in two dimensions. In fact, during the scene where Jar Jar tries to steal the chuba from the food stand in Mos Espa some guy sitting not that far from me spoke up loud enough for other people to hear and said "You're not funny!" That blurt got some audible chuckles from the audience. And I must confess...I smiled, too.

 

[sidious618]

For the record? Jar Jar is just as irritating in 3-D as he in two dimensions. In fact, during the scene where Jar Jar tries to steal the chuba from the food stand in Mos Espa some guy sitting not that far from me spoke up loud enough for other people to hear and said "You're not funny!" That blurt got some audible chuckles from the audience. And I must confess...I smiled, too.

Yeah, he's definitely for the little kids and overdone in the film. I'd say he's almost worth it for when Qui-Gon grabs his tongue and says, "Don't do that again." Almost.

 

[cooleddie74]

Meesa tink so.

 

[sidious618]

Meesa tink so.

Whenever the scene comes up when the queen says, "Jar Jar Binks we need you" and he goes "Meesa?" I always want the queen to reply, "Yes, yousa."

 

[cooleddie74]

I like to make fun of Jar Jar and he has his moments where I'd like to reach through the screen and strangle him, but he's no worse than the Ewoks really. And I'd be lying if I said I don't have more than a few Jar Jar Binks action figures...so yes. I'm a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to the big stupid frog. It's a longtime love-hate relationship to say the least.

 

[Mach5]

Why the 'Star Wars' Prequels Are Better Than the Original Trilogy

by Timothy Sexton

More people may prefer the original "Star Wars" trilogy, but there is no question that the prequel is a more challenging, illuminating, and superior work of art.

Number of comments (so far): 5,034

Jesus, this guy Timothy has the greatest possible job ever! If only Yahoo would pay ME to troll the whole damn Internet!

 

[Set Harth]

I didn't have any problem with Jake Lloyd who acted like a kid which is, y'know, what the character was.

A lot of people hate kids, it's as simple as that. Over at EWWWWW.com they're claiming that the kid Boba Fett from AOTC was "whiny". Sorry, didn't happen. I guess Hayden stink somehow smears on everyone in the film. The military used to call this "collateral damage".