PT TPM underrated

I was wondering if anyone else feels that TPM is an extremely underrated film. It gets tons of bashing on it's negative aspects, Anakin being annoying, Jar jar, slow pacing, Jar Jar. If anything IMO, AOTC was the weakest out of the prequels, it had more unneeded humor than TPM and the Anakin/Padme' scenes were not to be watched on a lack of sleep, but that is my take on it.

 

The Menace Phantom?
Attack the of Clones?

 

Whoops thanks dude.

 

Extremely underrrated is maybe too much. I'm not a big fan of the PT, but indeed TPM received excessive critical bashing when it came out. Probably because it was not the movie most people from the OT era had been waiting for, the extensive use of CGI that dwarfed the characters and emotions, the kiddish mood it conveyed with Anakin being 9 years old and Jar Jar overwhelming presence, and those overtly religious tones never seen before (Prophecy of the Chosen One, Anakin's virginal birth).

As an OT era fan, I was disappointed when it came out, but liked some parts here and there though, and didn't expect too much, as Lucas always said Episode I would be fairly innocent and kiddish. Since then I've come to appreciate it more and more despite his flaws.

I completely agree with you regarding AOTC, to me the weakest of the SW Saga, and the big disppointment of the PT.

 

TMP underrated

I agree. Sure, the acting is stiff, but it actually compares quite favorably with 2001 in that way. It's got a neat sf story that really embraces the franchise's roots. And what a fun twist near the end, there.

 

Looking back, The Phantom Menace was a kid movie. Anakin being 9 years old and Jar-Jar Binks as silly as he was had been innovated just for the children. I remember it did recieve a lot of bashing by critics mainly because there was no Empire or Rebellion in restropect to the Orginally triology. But over all, I gave it a 4 star rating. I loved it. It was interesting to see how the great Ben Kenobi become a Jedi Knight. That's what I liked the most about the film.

 

If people have been dishonest, toward themselves and/or others, about their opinions on the film, then yes, it is underrated.
Otherwise, it's not.

For me, it's a 5 out of 5 and I know I mean it.





LM - he's honest
/LM

 

I`v always loved TPM. I consider it to be as good or even better than AOTC and ROTS. Call me weird, but its just the way i feel. Part of the reason is that it doesnt feel as rushed as the two other movies.

 

Darth Maul was an exciting character. His double bladed lightsaber was classic, never to be seen in a SW film again. I also liked Mace Windu being played by Samuel L. Jackson on the Jedi Council.

 

Yes, definitely. I felt one of the lamest criticisms was "the plot was confusing!" So basically, it's a bad movie because you're stupid?

 

That was good, I gotta use that as a sig

 

It wasn't/isn't as bad as a lot of people say it is, but it's still the most flawed movie of the Saga, IMO.

It's biggest problem is that its just not that interesting and most of it's time is spent focusing on the two characters that in terms of the overall six part Saga are actually pretty inconsequential (Qui-Gon and Jar Jar)

Where-as AOTC is also flawed (differant flaws this time, more technical like editing) but its a much more interesting film because events that are actually important to the Saga happen in this movie (Anakin and Padme getting together, Anakin beginning his fall to the dark side and Clones and the Clone War, etc....)

When TPM came out it was always so hard to actually make that connection to the other movies. Really, except for Anakin becoming a Jedi and Palpatine beginning his take-over of the Galaxy, theres just not much to get your teeth into that actually relates to the rest of the Saga, where-as in AOTC you can see it all beginning to happen and then obviously ROTS is THE Prequel to Star Wars and very much makes that connection to the OT.

 

I really like TPM, and I do think it's underrated, but overall I agree with G-FETT that it's "still the most flawed movie of the Saga".

 

I agree with FETT and eht13 that TPM was an entertaining flick. It was too blatantly marketed at young kids, the 'new' generation of SW fans I suppose. In turn, we got the aforementioned Jar Jar and "another pathetic life form" in nine year old Anakin. A teenage Anakin would have dovetailed nicely with Luke in ANH.

Seeing Kenobi as a padawan to Jinn did nothing for me. In fact, IMO it diminished his ANH character and was a major plot hole regarding TESB, where Ben tells Luke that Yoda trained him. Oh, and don't get all "Yoda trained every padawan" on me! Yoda was not Luke's primary master and mentor -- Jinn was.

In the end, Lucas found a way to turn one decent prequel (ROTS) into three!

But admittedly, what we got from '99 to '05 was still fun to watch, and the PT still has those of us on these boards still writing about the films five years after it all ended, so they definitely were not disasters by any measure. Flawed masterpieces, maybe.

 

I agree with FETT and eht13 that TPM was an entertaining flick. It was too blatantly marketed at young kids, the 'new' generation of SW fans I suppose.



So was A NEW HOPE. Hell, that was more of a kiddie flick than THE PHANTOM MENACE.

 

I agree that TPM was severely underrated. It is actually my favorite of the three prequels, but I know most fans don't agree with me on this.

The problem was that TPM had several things going against it from the beginning:

- Prior to it being released in May '99, there was so much hype/media attention for this film since it was the first SW film in 16 years (IMHO there was more hype for this film than for any other movie, ever) that it was impossible for the film to live up to these expectations. Fans probably expected something close to the second coming, and when the film was less than they hoped for they became quite dissapointed.

- Since it was the first SW prequel (and the SW film, chronologically) there was a lot of exposition/explanation (i.e., background on the Jedi, midi-chlorians, etc.). Though I really enjoyed this aspect of the film, I think many felt it dragged because of this.

- It showcased a small child (Anakin) as the main character/hero, and I think many fans would have preferred to see Anakin as slightly older.
I understand why this was done, however; Anakin's fall and transformation into Darth Vader in Episode III was made more dramatic since you first saw him in TPM as an innocent little kid. I also felt that the scenes with Anakin and his mother (especially the scene when he left home) very poignant & moving, but, again, it's probably not what most fans wanted to see.

- Jar Jar got panned by many because he served as the "comic relief" and played the fool for most of the film. I thought this aspect of the movie was fine and actually quite needed, since TPM was dark in a lot of other ways (i.e. Darth Maul, the behind-the-scenes machinations of Dark Sideous, etc.) Also, you have to remember that, IMHO, he replaced the comedy of R2-D2 & C3-PO from the OT. Again, however, this is not what many fans wanted to see and therefore there was a lot of criticism of the character because of this.

- Though there was definitely action in the film (the short fight on the ship in the beginning, the podrace, the big battles at the end), the tone was different than what we saw in the OT. Fans would probably have preferred larger-scale battles like the ones we saw in Episodes II & III, but, again, those types of battles weren't the focus of TPM. This was really about setting up the story for what was to come later.

Overall, it's unfortunate that TPM has never received the respect it truly deserved. I will always look back on this film with fondness, however. It brings back memories of the late '90's, and also a time when the SW universe was a lot less complicated.

 

^ Although TPM is, as I said above, overall my least favorite SW film (just slightly below AOTC), I agree with all of those great points regarding it.

 

There was not one single pre-pubescent character in ANH. And best of all . . . no Binks!

 

I still think Gungans are better than Ewoks..

 

Yeah I cannot agree that ANH is more of a kiddie flick than TPM. That statement is preposterous.

 

Well, I agree with most of the points....The fact is that TPM is no worse than AOTC and ROTS, but the other two are better than TPM...

It just has a little bit "childish" and disney movie looks because of little Anakin and Jar Jar....Only the Jedi battles make the movie a little more mature...

It lacks the drama plus love storie of the other two, just that...

 

"Kiddie flick" is the wrong way to describe it, but I think one could argue that SW is more kid-friendly than TPM, as well as more adult-friendly.

TPM is schizophrenic, bouncing from political intrigue to fart jokes. The "for adults" and "for kids" bits are taken to such extremes that they become somewhat exclusively targeted to those segments of the audience.

SW does a much better balancing act, never going so "grown-up" that the kids get bored or so "kiddie" that the grown-ups feel embarrassed to be watching. It's a true "family" movie.

 

I will say that I hear more and more kids these days saying that ANH is slow and boring...

 

I can understand that view though....Kids do not have the mental background to understand such movies, not only the old SW, but also other classic movies...

However, it is something understanble and competely logical, since neither did we grow up with classic, dramatic movies....

 

And since when were child critics ever relevant in the long run? With children raised on a cinematic diet of Transformers and the like, its not surprising that a film without that constant, in-your-face action would seem boring.

At least ANH didn't have the cinematic ADD that plagued TPM, one of many flaws. As was previously said, going from international trade issues to fart jokes to slavery to slapstick humor within ten minutes makes the film uneven and the contrasts are not well done, they are jarring to the extreme.