Is The Phantom Menace really such a bad movie?

Well, I was tempted to make this the shortest blog ever.

"Yes."

But critics are the cheap tricks of the movie world. George Lucas went to the trouble of making the damn thing, and all we do is complain. And I think the director's response might be something on the order of "Fine, if you don't like my movie, go make one yourself."

Good luck with that. Plus, I'm categorically annoyed with any critic who declares a movie good or bad, when what they really mean is I liked it, or I didn't like it.

OK. I didn't like the movie. So sue me.

Too much CGI, for one thing. Sure, the first Star Wars had special effects--they were extraordinary for its time--but our interest was also directed to the major characters. These characters included C-3PO and R2-D2, neither of whom was CGI.

They all felt real. Unlike the very much not real flying junk shop dealer (Anakin Skywalker's boss) - or the announcer at the race -- and don't even get me started on Jar-Jar Binks.

A second problem was with the character of Anakin Skywalker himself. The child actor playing Anakin was not good, as anyone who's seen the movie knows. But he was a child. I blame the director. Too much time spent on the CGI, George. Help the kid out.

Anakin's character presented another problem, which wasn't quite as obvious until the next movie came out and Anakin and Queen Amidala become lovers. She looked like she was an adult when she met Anakin as a young child. Eeuuww. (According to Wikipedia, Queen Amidala was supposed to be 14 in The Phantom Menace. That definitely didn't come across.)

Lucas has answered his critics by saying that the movie was for children. Which would have been a point, except - yeah, no, it's not. Way too dark and violent -- the make up on Darth Maul alone would give some kids nightmares. And has he forgotten that Anakin kills an entire group of children in one of the later movies? You might not see it on screen, but what are you going to tell little Susie and little Johnny about what happened to them?

I'll end with something I liked: the final light saber duel between Obi Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul. Cool. And of course it was nice to see Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson in the first place. I wish they would have had more to do.

I was channel surfing a couple days ago, and happened on one of the I, II, III trilogy. I watched for a few minutes. I couldn't remember which one it was. I had no idea what was happening. If it had been one of the IV, V, VI trilogy, I could have told you everything.