I made the mistake of beginning to read the novelization for this movie before watching it again, so about midway through the book, I stopped to put in the DVD. However, I admit that what I’d read of the book has colored my current opinion of the movie.

It was probably only the third, maybe fourth time I had watched it, the first time being at the theater; and my friends had to drag me to go. I tried so hard to resist seeing the first of the prequel trilogy, but I’m glad I went. When Darth Maul made his first appearance, we all thought he rocked. And when he lit the second blade of his lightsaber, we simultaneously leaned back in our seats and breathed, “Whoa!” Like many Star Wars fans, we were disappointed that there wasn’t more Maul.

That opinion still holds for me. As for my first impressions, a few have changed. Jar Jar is tolerable as the trickster figure, but what inspired George Lucas to create the Gungan species, or at least their way of speaking, is still beyond me. Though a cute little boy, Jake Lloyd’s acting isn’t all that impressive. “Yipee”? And for someone who grew up on Tatooine, you’d think his Huttese accent would be a little better. I would cut him some slack, but there are plenty of child actors out there who are better. Don’t ask me to name any, though. Heh. (Although Natalie Portman really impressed me in The Professional, the first movie in which I saw her—the first movie in which she starred.) Ewan McGregor’s and Liam Neeson’s performances are definitely not less than you’d expect.

The plot itself is fine, except for the fact that Anakin Skywalker was conceived without a father. When I first saw the movie, I thought, “Oh, what, so he’s like some kind of Jesus, or something?” I still think that. For the ridiculous characters and plot lines Lucas created, at least there are cool ones to make up for it. The politics revolving around Coruscant and Senator Palpatine’s blooming climb to power is well done. Mace Windu rocks the house. And of course the special effects are awesome. It’s a Star Wars film—how could they not be? Overall though, it’s just OK.

Little Anakin is by far the best acted character in this movie. I had no compunction in getting up the middle of it and going to bed. Liam Neeson slips effortlessly into the wise jedi role, but everyone else flounders in slow-spoken dialogue and ponderous scenes. Lucas lost perspective when he made the decision to direct this movie, and spent far too much time fiddling with the CGI (which admittedly creates some stunning, if unbelievably perfect, landscapes). A good director could at least have injected some life into dialogue that is obviously serving some ultimate end that precludes character development and, well, anything interesting. The jokes are in the slapstick fashion and are juvenile and unamusing. I loved this movie the first time I saw it in the cinema, and was dissapointed to realise how bad it really is when watching the DVD.