My Review: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D

Wednesday, February 29, 2012
This was my favorite movie when I was nine years old. My uncle Ryan took me and my cousins to go see this at Lake 7 theater in Rice Lake, WI. I remember thinking that it was the coolest thing that I had ever seen, and soon became totally obsessed with it. I had a Star Wars backpack, a Star Wars lunchbox, a Star Wars calender (that was really cool because it had flip book animations of scenes from the movie), and I was Darth Maul for Halloween that year. It was kinda shitty because lots of other kids were too and my mom was way late in buying my costume so while the other kids had the cool normal sized double sided lightsaber, I had one half the size and it was filled with candy. So, now it is almost 13 years later and I was psyched when I saw that this movie was being released in 3D. The Phantom Menace is the least bad of all of the Star Wars prequels and is filled with great scenes like the podracing scene and an extremely epic lightsaber battle between Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul. Here are the main reasons why I went to see ths movie:
  • I thought that the lightsaber battle and pod race scenes would look epic in 3D
  • Nostalgia
  • To see if the underwater scene would scare me as much as it did when I was nine (seriously I had my hands over my eyes the whole scene)
  • Ewan McGregor is crazy beautiful
  • Um..its Star Wars....
Since this movie wasn't made to be in 3D, there aren't any really cool 3D moments. It was basically like watching it the first time, except now Yoda is CGI. They probably did it to make it consistent with the second two prequels, but I like puppet Yoda better. I still think that seeing this was worth the $9 and 15 minute bus ride, though. One of the greatest things about seeing Star Wars movies in theaters is hearing Ben Burtt's great sound design. The sound during the pod race is just amazing. Everytime the pods rounded a corner, I was just like "wow!"
Its also cool to watch this now that I know that Keira Knightley is Natalie Portman's decoy. I remember being shocked when I found out that Padme was Queen Amidala. That to me was my Crying Game scene. Except instead of Dil having a penis, it was Portman being the queen. I really couldn't tell the difference between Natalie as queen and Knightley as decoy queen.

Now that it is 13 years later and I have a shitload of movies featuring these two actresses, I can easily tell the two of them apart. It was interesting seeing how many times Knightley is in the background in just her handmaiden robe. Speaking of Queen Amidala, how amazing is her wardrobe? I used to have this book that came out with the book and there was a few pages dedicated to her wardrobe and I ended up ruining the book by cutting them all out. I wish I hadn't done that now because that book was really cool. It has lists of all the droids and spaceships and everything. Anyways, Queen Amidala has the most amazing clothes. Here are my favorite outfits.


Also, that lightsaber battle is just amazing!



Poor Ewan McGregor always has to have someone die in his arms. I'm surprised Qui-Gonn didn't say "tell a story Christian...or Obi-Wan." Speaking of Ewan McGregor...how gorgeous is this guy?!!?!?

Seeing this again made me realize how little he is in this movie. At least he is in the best scene in the movie. (I am referring again to the lightsaber battle).
So in conclusion, although the 3D aspect was somewhat disappointing, and I prefer puppet Yoda, this was really fun to see in theaters again.


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