In preparation of the eagerly-anticipated “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” I have decided to start reviewing the other Star Wars movies, starting with what many people consider one of the biggest let-downs in movie history, “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” People may forget, but back when it came out, the anticipation was enormous, very much like it is now with the “The Force Awakens.” There were theories sprung from the trailers, the promotion and premiere were getting massive media coverage, the movie sold out at many theaters, it was everywhere. But once we finally saw the movie, many people got upset about what “Star Wars” had become at this point. While I can’t say it’s the worst thing to have the “Star Wars” name attached to it, it’s still a bit of a disappointment.

The story is about two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who have to negotiate with the Trade Federation about their recent blockade over the planet Naboo. As they discover it’s an invasion, they land on Naboo, come across a native Gungan named Jar Jar Binks, and they help Naboo’s Queen Amidala get to Coruscant to plead their case to the galactic senate. Along the way, they have to stop and repair their ship on the planet Tatooine. There they meet a young Anakin Skywalker, and through a podrace, they free him from slavery and take him with them to train him as a Jedi, because apparently, he is the one prophesized to bring balance to the force. However, what they don’t realize is that the Trade Federation is taking orders from the dark lord of the Sith, who sends his apprentice to kill the two Jedi and get the Queen back to Naboo.

One of the biggest problems with this movie is that the narrative isn’t really that flowing and is quite unfocused. What was the story in the original “Star Wars” movie? Luke, Han, Chewie, C3PO and R2-D2 rescue princess Leia from Darth Vader and bring the Death Star plans to the Rebel Alliance so they can destroy the Death Star. The original had a flowing narrative with a few more plot elements thrown in to make the characters more interesting. Here, it feels perplexingly reversed. It feels like there are way too many plot elements, that, sadly, ruin the pacing of the story.

But that problem wouldn't be as bad if the characters were at least interesting, and sadly, they're not. Most of that comes from how monotone many of these performances are. While a lot of these people have done great work before and after this movie, they just don’t deliver here, with the exception of a few. I think most of that comes from the writing and direction. Liam Neeson, for example, was pretty monotone as Qui-Gon Jinn. However, it seems like he’s putting some effort into it, though not much. But by far, the biggest culprit of monotone acting in this movie is Kiera Knightley as Queen Amidala. The interesting thing is that in the original trailer, she sounds a bit more realistic, but in the movie, her voice is so deep that it’s almost impossible for her to emote. Again, I blame the direction.

Now, it’s time to talk about the biggest complaints people have against this movie, starting with Anakin’s performance from Jake Lloyd. For those who don’t remember, this kid got so much backlash from his performance that he quit acting, which honestly, I don’t think is fair at all. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a terrible performance. He spends a good chunk of the time whining or reading awkward lines in a somewhat monotone voice, but again, I blame the writing and direction. When the script makes a kid use a pickup line like “Are you an angel?”, how can you give a legit performance? Do I think Jake Lloyd was right for the part? Probably not, but I don’t think he deserves all the blame.

And yes, let’s discuss the elephant in the room, Jar Jar Binks. Binks has cemented himself as one of the most annoying characters in all of cinema. Everyone bashes Jar Jar for trying way too hard to be funny, which he does so often in this film. Jar Jar seems to have little to no identity outside of being a clumsy idiot and having an over-the-top accent. It’s hard to be invested in a character who barely seems invested in what’s going on around him. On top of that, the CGI on him (and the other Gungans, for that matter) is not that well-rendered. Granted, this was back when people just discovered CGI and started using it for everything, but looking back now, the CGI on the Gungans is way too obviously CGI.

Also, another thing we should address is the midi-chlorians. This is something that gets most Star Wars fans angered to no end, and, I’m not going to lie, it gets me upset too. Here’s why; in the original “Star Wars”, the Force is depicted as a religion that only those who studied it could know how to use. They call it a religion in the original films, and even non-Jedi say “may the Force be with you”. Here, they say it’s a little bacteria in your bloodstream. I thought the Force was an energy that surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together, that a Jedi must feel the force around him. Turns out you can only use it if you have this bacteria? Now, you could make the argument that they are two completely different entities, that midi-chlorians explain the force to us, but we don’t hear Yoda or Obi-Wan tell Luke that in the original trilogy. You can’t change the structure of something that important this far into your story. If I had to guess, George Lucas only added it so that Anakin could have something to be conceived from to be the Star Wars equivalent of Jesus. Yeah, they go for an “immaculate conception” in this story. Apparently, Anakin was conceived by the midi-chlorians as the one prophesized to bring balance to the force. This movie was made at a time when prophecy stories were all the rage, such as “The Matrix”. This is a cliché that thankfully is dying out, and with good reason. When you put that much pressure on someone, it can scar them for life. In fact, “The Lego Movie”, which came out last year, satirized the whole “prophecy” cliché, by having the guy who said it make it up. Also, if the prophecy was that Anakin would bring balance to the force, then it really backfired, seeing as how he joins the dark side and destroys all the Jedi.

Despite these many issues, let it be known that this movie is not completely bad. There are some good elements. As much as I pick on the performances in this movie, some of them are actually not that bad, particularly Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan and Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine. These two are honestly the best characters in the entire movie. Also, some of the character designs are decent too. I actually kind of like the battle droids, even if they’re easy to defeat. But the best character design is definitely Darth Maul. Even if he has only a few lines, he looks pretty intimidating. Also, the music is pretty good too. They got John Williams to come back and do the score, and he comes up with some great compositions here, some of them even rank up there with the original classics.

Also, while the CG on the characters may not be that well-rendered, the designs of the worlds and architecture are highly imaginative. Coruscant and Naboo in particular have a lot of mind-blowing buildings. The palace of Theed, for example is very well constructed and looks beautiful. Also, the Jedi Temple looks pretty creative too. And the Senate Chambers actually have the cabinets fly out when they are called to speak. That is wildly creative.

But the best part in this movie is the lightsaber duel between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan. I’m serious, I have no problems with the lightsaber duel. The music, the stunts, the energy in this scene is amazing to witness. Honestly, when I was a kid, I would just skip the entire movie, and watch this scene over and over. If you can’t get into the story, at the very least, you could get into the action.

The original “Star Wars” trilogy is among my top 10 favorite films of all time, but that was because of the storyline and characters that are so timeless. This movie in no way represents that. I think the reason so many got so upset about it is because the original films had such an impact on all of us, so we wanted to like “The Phantom Menace." It’s “Star Wars”, so of course, we want to like it. But when we find that the first film to come out since “Return of the Jedi” is this bad, we wonder what happened to the franchise we all know and love. And look, if you do happen to like this movie, good for you. This is just my personal opinion. Now that “The Force Awakens” has been getting unprecedented hype over this entire year, all I’m hoping for is that we get another legitimately good “Star Wars” film and not just another “Phantom Menace,” but I have good faith that Abrams will give us a great "Star Wars" movie.