Star Wars: Duel of the Trilogies

I love Star Wars.  I always have.  My dad was 14 when A New Hope debuted and so when the re-mastered versions were re-released in the 90s my father and I were the first ones in line to see them.  I think my story mirrors that of most early 90s boys with nerdy dads, which is certainly a huge part of the reason why the release of the prequel trilogy of Star Wars was so successful.

The soundtrack rocks, it doesn't need my defense

However, there are those who constantly rip on episodes I, II and III for being gimmicky and poorly done.  Half-baked characters, boring and overdone scripts and incessant inconsistencies only a nerd could pick out (Obi-Wan not force running to get past the force-field walls in the final duel) (also the force field walls themselves) weren't the best recipe for creating another epic and critically acclaimed masterpiece series.  I will be the first to admit there are certain parts of the prequel trilogy that I cannot stand and are frankly pretty boring.  Most of these involve either A. an overuse of special effects for little or no gain in coolness or B.  horrible, horrible acting.

An example of A for me would be the busy space battle scenes at the beginning of Episode III, where there is literally just too much going on.  A definite non-example would be Yoda's lightsaber duel with Count Dooku in ep. II, and pretty much everything else in all three, a lot of the scenes are Avatar-caliber beautiful, especially considering they were made nearly a decade earlier.  (Side note: If you really want to talk about an unimpressive, over-hyped and outright terrible science-fiction movie, look no further than Avatar.)

Portman, her looks alone save so many
scenes for me

The beginning of the climax of Episode I where Padme (one of the best parts of the trilogy) compromises her cover and reveals that the queen in the scene is in fact a decoy, in order to gain Gungan sovereign Boss Nass' trust and help in battling the droid army is a prime example of reason B.  She steps out and in some of the worst acting I've ever seen by my biggest celebrity crush Natalie Portman, kneels while speaking "I'm asking you, no I'm begging you", it's hard to watch.  You die hards know what I'm talking about.  I'll chalk it up to her being new and young and I'm sure talking to a blank wall during the shoot made the significance of the on-screen situation much less tangible to the actors.  That scene is a beacon of atrociousness and there are surely some scenes that boast acting nearly as bad scattered throughout, but in the words of a wise Jedi, bad acting alone, a terrible movie does not make.  Hmmm!

This is for me, really.  It has
nothing to do with Star Wars
or this article

So to get to my actual point, the prequel trilogy, like any good piece of art, isn't about perfection or style or adherence to some kind of set guidelines.  It's not about great acting or perfect characters or stunning special effects.  It's not even about living up to it's predecessor, although I would argue it does.  It is about how it makes the viewer feel.  I don't love Star Wars because it's a perfect example of science fiction, far from it.  I don't love it because it recapitulates the hero's journey and has a rich and incomprehensibly massive backstory.  I love Star Wars because every time I watch them I get the same exuberant feelings I got the first time I watched them.  I remember going with my dad when I was 8, and going to Episode I with my friends 5 times because we loved it so much.  George Lucas had to know he would be entrancing a whole new generation of nerdlings when he wrote the prequel trilogy, which explains the Jar-Jars and talking battle droids that would otherwise seem like cinematic suicide.

One of the coolest characters ever

You don't love a car because it's safe and drives well is reliable and gets good gas mileage.  You love a car because of the way it makes you feel to drive it, and the memories you've created in it (My woman from Tokyo has certainly seen a lot #jeanskirt).  You don't love a book just because the plot is excellent and original and the characters are well-developed, you fall in love with the characters because of the way you can relate to them and the way their personal stories can intertwine with yours.  A book is a book, a car is a car and a movie is just a movie until you add yourself to it.  It's the ones that stick with you that mean the most in the end and in this way Star Wars has achieved more, at least to me, than most Academy Award winners ever will.

78 Reasons to hate Star Wars Episode I
These are funny, needless to say I don't agree and I would venture a guess that this guy was not born into 1990 like I was, so he misses out on all the reasons this movie actually rocks.