PT What didn't you like about the phantom menace?

Me personally, I think it had so many different tones, it was hard to know who the movie was meant for. There's politics, serious behind the scenes stuff going on and then Jar Jar making childish jokes put into the same box. In the end of the film there are 4 different giant battles going on. I think one of the fundamental problems is that there's no consistent tone.

 

I mean , where to start ...

 

I don’t think there’s anything that bothers me about it

 

I think Jar Jar ruined it for many. So many adults I knew back then said the movie was fine until he showed up. The kids back then loved him though…

 

That it was better than ROTJ. Damn u Lucas. U genius

 

Less as time goes on and I appreciate it more. It's probably about my fourth or fifth favorite movie of any series.

 

All of the Lucas films have more than one storyline going on. ESB for example has Luke training with Yoda, Han and Leia are hiding in asteroid fields and dealing with Lando and Vader on Bespin. Palps is working on Vader to get him to make Luke surrender.

People complain about Anakin talking back to Obi Wan but there's alot of that going on in Obi Wan's interactions with Qui Gon. Didn't care for Obi Wan's attitude with the whole "Why do I sense we've picked up another pathetic life form?"

Don't care for Samuel L Jackson at all and didn't much like the character of Mace. His dismissiveness of Qui Gon, "I do not believe the Sith could return without us knowing." The arrogance was too overdone, he came off as if he thought he was better than everyone else. I get what Lucas wanted but IMO it was just SLJ being SLJ rather than the character he was supposed to be portraying.

Darth Maul was one of my favorite things about the film and I was disappointed he didn't survive.

 

Qui Gon made the movie for me but the only thing i really didn't like was Qui Gon's death...*******s.

 

I agree, all Star Wars films have several storylines going on at the same time. But IMO the other films had a more consistent tone throughout the film, they had a quite serious tone and some moments of relief. I don't know, maybe I'm just wrong. I thought Samuel Jackson was a bad casting choice to play any jedi. Samuel Jackson had a few good moments in the prequels, but he really can't play a quiet, calm character convincingly.

 

On the surface, what I don't like about TPM is that it can't have an aftermath. And this is due to the interior of the reality being accessible.

So, what have I created here?
Accessibility using closed door from the back door entrance. In other words, the Heaven tease.

The logic, here, is that the beauty of Heaven is to exclude on the knowing basis of inclusion.

 

Not all kids.

Maybe kids before the age of 9.

Because even I can tell that if the director can make a good kid friendly movie like the Ewoks in ROTJ compared to making a ridiculous kid friendly movie with Jar Jar.

 

honestly there’s very little in TPM that I don’t like, there’s some bad jokes and comedic moments that maybe go on to long or feel out of place, I don’t hate Jar Jar, but his clumsy moments are definitely are overdone and to often film

it’s the next two films for me that have more problems

 

The bashing and hating on Lucas, Best, Lloyd and others. People can criticize in a respectful constructive way all you want but that what some did with spreading hate on the movie and some of cast and crew was just shamefull and embaracing.

 

Jar Jar is arguably worse in the first couple seasons of TCW compared to his screentime in TPM

 

Captain Panaka and the Naboo pilots were always pretty lame in my opinion.

Other than that, I love it.

I mean there’s tons wrong on paper. But I’m used to all that stuff.

 

It’s not a perfect film, but honestly there’s nothing in it I dislike.

 

TPM is okay, but it's my second least-favorite of all the live-action theatrical films (I like AOTC a little less than TPM).
-Qui-Gon getting more screentime than anyone else and still getting killed off. This also goes hand in hand with Obi-Wan have very little interaction with Anakin in this film.
-Maul's lack of dialogue and character
-Anakin only being 9 and not showing up until about 45 minutes in
-A lot of Jar Jar's antics.
-The Yoda puppet's design (fixed from 2011 onward)
-Ending multiplication effect: I still enjoy The Battle of Naboo. But 4 aspects of the battle cutting back and forth is too much.
-Anakin's immaculate conception.

 

I was going to say this!

 

I'm in the middle of the PT right now actually, as I am watching my way thru all the SW films (kind of in 'preparation' for the Kenobi series). I just finished watching TPM a couple days ago, for the first time in perhaps over half a year. As I was watching it, I remarked how enjoyable some of the action scenes were, and really was enjoying the overall plot and backdrop of the story during those events. It was even more enjoyable cos I just finished reading Master and Apprentice a couple months ago (anyone who's read that book surely knows what I mean).

However, I still shake my head at all of the potty humor moments; Jar Jar stepping in poop and the eopie fart, mainly. I don't really think Jar Jar is all that bad of a character really (and his CG is quite good considering it came out in 1999), and my kids love him. But take out all the slapstick, and this installment would be much higher on my list.

 

Anakin shows up 30 minutes into TPM. Luke didnt show up until 18 minutes in ANH. Obiwan didnt show up until 30 minutes in, and Han didnt show up until 45 minutes in. The characters dont show up until they become a part of the story. Its the unconventional way Star Wars has always told its stories.

 

There are things I dislike about any SW movie. TPM is no exception, though generally I think it's not as bad as its reputation.
What I didn't really like:
- Jar Jar per se doesn't bother me, but he could have been presented in a less childish and silly way. Remove his fake Spanish and silly accent plus the fart etc. "jokes" and he would have worked MUCH better. I don't think even children actually like toilet "humor". I know I didn't as a child.
- The fish and bigger fish sequence was totally unnecessary. Maybe it was just there to show off CGI, but it certainly didn't help the story. Lucas should have included young Anakin saving that Tusken, as in the novel, instead. That would really have profited the character, especially when regarding what he did in AOTC. It would have shown he was not by nature prejudiced against them, but reacted to what they did. Now that would have given the character a lot more depth. Also it would have introduced the PT's main character at a much earlier point.
- Obi-Wan could have been slightly less arrogant - "another pathetic species"?? Now that is NOT how I expected wise old OT Ben to be like. His attitude casts the Jedi in general in a bad light. Aren't they supposed to be wise and tolerant? Young Obi-Wan comes across as slightly unlikable, though most of his other scenes are OK, and his character improves greatly over the PT. So I guess his initial arrogance was intentional.
- The final battle was mostly OK, minus Jar Jar's forced clumsiness. Since he's already known to be that clumsy, why make him a general of all things? He could have still been in the battle, but nobody in his right mind would have given him any sort of leadership role.
That's all I can think of right now. Those are just minor issues I have with the movie. So they could easily have been fixed and TPM much better received.

 

Stilted dialogue. And the final battle, especially in space, was not terribly compelling. But not to the point where I would call it a bad film at all. When someone asks for a top ten movie list I do not pick a single OT film I tell them, "The Star Wars Saga."

 

I really love TPM. Only criticism I have of it off the top of my head is that the Podrace goes on too long for my taste.

 

Well, he's only a kid after all, and kids tend to find some kind of happiness even in very tough situations. I remember that from my parents who were both kids right after WWII, in bombed-out Europe. They mostly tell me about their happy times back then.
I do agree with you that a darker, more moody or gloomy young Anakin might have been more appropriate and would have welcomed it. But I think Lucas intentionally wanted to offset his cheerful childlike personality against the much darker versions of himself in AOTC and ROTS.
As I said earlier, that incident with the Tusken right at the beginning of the TPM novel would have been great in the movie and maybe shown a more serious, pensive side of Anakin.