It occurred to me recently why The Phantom Menace is not a good Star Wars movie. (Yes, I realize I'm about five years late on this). The problem is not Jar-Jar Binks or George Lucas' hubris or trade disagreements or favouring showing off their computer fx technology over storytelling. The main, key reason why this is not a good Star Wars movie is because I did not leave the theatre wanting to be a Jedi when I grow up. Every other Star Wars movie, even upon the umpteenth viewing, has left me with fantasies of lightsabre duels and Jedi mind tricks and using the Force to accio* random objects. Just last night I watched Empire Strikes Back on TV, with commercial interruptions, while reading a newspaper and doing the dishes and playing computer games, and it still left me in a mood where if I were 15 years younger I would be spending the rest of the week dressed up in my bathrobe and pretending an old wrapping paper tube is a lightsabre. But Phantom Menace, upon first viewing in the theatre, upon the first time in my life that I've ever seen the words "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." on a big screen, did not leave me wanting to be a Jedi. That is its inherent problem.

*It's my blog, I can use Harry Potter verbs to describe Star Wars concepts if I want to!