Could the Prequel hate be, due to how lighthearted and kid oriented the films became? The Prequels as a whole are just kind of Corny and Jar Jar capitalizes on this and the Big CGI Jedi/Droid battles and Yoda flipping around is just weird and the more mature viewers wanted Starwars to grow with them. That's my guess, I was 11 when Phantom Menace came out I liked it back then after rewatching when I got older most of the humor fell flat and I just didn't care for them as much.

ZenithM

France15952 Posts

November 20 2015 03:22 GMT

#1803

That's a common argument, yeah. I'm myself not really convinced that the prequel is so bad when I watch a review by 40 year olds :D.

Manit0u

Poland17799 Posts

November 20 2015 04:30 GMT

#1804

I wouldn't mind if the prequels were targeted at kids (I do enjoy Disney movies after all, and I've enjoyed the Clone Wars series a lot more than the prequels). The problem is that they're not. They're too disjointed. Just take a look at this list off the top of my head.

Kid stuff:
- Jar Jar
- Anakin in ep I (so they can identify with him)
- pod racing
- pretty CGI
- droids
- plenty of jedi action

Not kid stuff:
- trade embargo/politics (plenty of boring talk)
- dismemberment galore
- decapitations
- mutilation
- people being burned alive

You get like 3 different themes in there. The lighthearted kiddy stuff with poor slapstick humour on top, then you have the entire political arc which seems to be the backbone of the story but isn't executed well enough and then there's all the stuff right out of Machete Kills or Kill Bill action movies which is definitely not for kids...

ZenithM

France15952 Posts

November 20 2015 05:09 GMT

#1805

They're obviously not for kids, but they may very well be for teens. Probably not the guys who went to see Star Wars at release in 1977. (Well, I do agree that these guys are not even around anymore to criticize the movies)
Damn I just realized I was 10 or 11 when I saw The Phantom Menace for the first time. Time flies... It's really not shocking to see it at that age, and I was still a kid then.

One thing that I must admit is that most of my good memories from this movie are centered around the action-y parts. The race was cool, the lightsaber fights were cool. I really didn't ask for more at the time, and when I rewatch the movie, I do it to watch mainly those parts. Not the acting prowesses of whoever played Anakin. And what the fuck did I care about midichlorians back then... Did kids really take up arms because midichlorians were an outrage and killed the mysticism or something?

Falling

Canada11586 Posts

November 20 2015 05:47 GMT

#1806

I suppose it depends on your view on what makes a good story and in particular, are stories for children or teens a lesser sort of good story. For myself, there are some stories that seem good as a child, that simply do not hold up as an adult. But the truly good children's stories remain good and in fact may prove to have a hidden depth to them that you really only appreciate when you are older.

I have gone through a lot of phases with the prequels- I enjoyed the first one upon first viewing, though I did have some vague dissatisfaction with the air combat in Episode I that I would have found difficult to articulate as a grade 7 student... and at the time, the Jedi battle tended to overshadow the flaws of all the other end plot lines. I then went into a hatred of Episode I (your run of the mill Jar Jar complaints), but still didn't really see a problem with Jake's acting... but just that the little kid seemed a far cry from the legendary Darth Vader in a rather dissatisfying way.

From there, I simply didn't watch it for a long time and my hatred faded into ambivalence. By the time the 3D release came out, I think it had been close to 10 years since I had last seen it (I just didn't have the desire to rewatch it like the originals.) On the rewatch I was ready to give a new re-evaluation- forget all the old criticism, what do I think now... and despite my best efforts, I kept getting drawn out of the film by some very serious flaws in its storytelling. That's not true of the best children's stories I've watched whether Disney, Don Bluth, or Pixar- to this day, they will draw me in without fail.

Roe

Canada6002 Posts

November 20 2015 06:02 GMT

#1807

On November 20 2015 12:22 ZenithM wrote:
That's a common argument, yeah. I'm myself not really convinced that the prequel is so bad when I watch a review by 40 year olds :D.

I don't think Mike is even that old now, lol. but yeah, once you reach 40 you lose any ability or credibility to be a film critic.

LegalLord

United States13779 Posts

November 20 2015 06:46 GMT

#1808

I never really hated any of the prequels. But it was obvious from the first time I watched the OT that those three movies were better. Same thing is true if I watch them now.

Atreides

United States2393 Posts

November 20 2015 06:53 GMT

#1809

I think it helps if you just detach the two trilogies. It is really wierd to compare movies made so far apart in the first place. Incidentally I have to be the only person I know who thinks its unlikely ep 7 will be better than 1-3. But I don't think they are awful either. I am highly skeptical of 7.

Velr

Switzerland10927 Posts

November 20 2015 08:28 GMT

#1810

Everytime someone sais the prequels weren't bad, they should be forced to read all the EP2 Anakin <-> Padme dialogue loud to themselves...

LoneYoShi

France1348 Posts

November 20 2015 09:11 GMT

#1811

On November 20 2015 17:28 Velr wrote:
Everytime someone sais the prequels weren't bad, they should be forced to read all the EP2 Anakin <-> Padme dialogue loud to themselves...

+1.

I'm always surprised to see all the people shitting on ep. 1 while I found the ep. 2 way way worse. And yeah, the whole Padme/Anakin story is terribly done: poor writing and poor acting (which is weird considering both actors showed in other movies that they were good, I blame that on the director).

Falling

Canada11586 Posts

November 20 2015 09:29 GMT

#1812

There's a lot that could've been done with that- it would've helped if the assassination plot hadn't gotten dropped. Episode V also has a bunch of the main characters bog off for a little romance, however the tension remains because the Imperials are chasing them, they've stalled in an asteroid belt, asteroid worm, etc, etc. There are simply no stakes for Padme/ Anakin and they have no goals, no objectives to work towards. It really just feels like we're pausing their story until the rest of the plot can catch up before they can rejoin. But if even the peaceful fields of Naboo are insufficient to keep away assassins, maybe Anakin decides to drop off the map in his own backwater world of Tatooine, linking in with the regular story.

Also, is it really necessary to have Jango on Kamino when Obi Wan arrives? Keep him on the case, transfer his Obi Wan fight to a fight vs Anakin and suddenly Naboo becomes a dangerous place again and there are actual stakes for that subplot.

Roggay

Switzerland6320 Posts

November 20 2015 10:45 GMT

#1813

The only one out of the prequel I didn't really like was episode 2. That one really did not impress me and I have always felt very meh about it. But as a kid I absolutely loved episode 1 (especially the pod race and the light saber fights) and later I also liked episode 3.
Admitelly I can understand why people hate the kiddy elements of those movies so much because I also found them stupid (jar-jar, r2 doing stupid flying stunts etc...) but not to the point that it ruined the movies for me.

B.I.G.

3251 Posts

November 20 2015 16:11 GMT

#1814

For those who might not know this exists:

And I remember this song being played to death on radio and TV around the release of Phantom Menace:

LegalLord

United States13779 Posts

November 20 2015 16:30 GMT

#1815

Here's another cool one.

Manit0u

Poland17799 Posts

November 20 2015 17:46 GMT

#1816

On November 21 2015 01:11 B.I.G. wrote:
And I remember this song being played to death on radio and TV around the release of Phantom Menace:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU

How come I missed that? Weird Al is the bomb!

B.I.G.

3251 Posts

November 20 2015 18:06 GMT

#1817

And I actually think this is some of his finest work. I could still remember the lyrics quite clearly even after not having heard the song for more than 10 years haha

ThomasjServo

15244 Posts

November 20 2015 20:03 GMT

#1818

I forgot how strange weird al looked in that wig.

blade55555

United States17423 Posts

November 20 2015 20:55 GMT

#1819

On November 20 2015 17:28 Velr wrote:
Everytime someone sais the prequels weren't bad, they should be forced to read all the EP2 Anakin <-> Padme dialogue loud to themselves...

The prequel's weren't that bad. That isn't to say there aren't cringeworthy/bad dialogue (and Jar Jar), but they are not as bad as people like to exaggerate.

andrewlt

United States7702 Posts

November 20 2015 22:24 GMT

#1820

There is a lot of exaggeration going on. I didn't think the originals were that good or the prequels that bad. The prequels did have their problems but some were in the originals as well.