First of all, if a movie is not originally shot in 3D but is then later on converted into 3D it still is not in 3D. HOLLYWOOD are you listening. Take a look at any film shot in 3D and any film converted and you'll see the difference jumps right out at you. Phantom Menace looked practically the same in its converted form as with its original format.
But being twelve years older and two years sober did much to change my opinion of a movie I didn't think that highly of in the first place. This time around I really got to see how BORING it was. There is little to no plot going on here. The images are captivating but are then undone by nothing interesting happening onscreen.
The characters are horribly written, the dialogue is mundane and elementary and the acting is what you'd expect as a result of George Lucas's complete inability to write.
There is the 15 minute long, self indulgent Pod Racing scene that goes on way to long, and isn't very interesting. OK George we get it you like racing cars. Go make a film that centers around racing instead of shoving a Nascar race in the middle of a fucking Sci-Fi movie.
Obi-Wan, who factors so importantly into the complete saga is relegated to mere cameo status in this film, and we don't even meet our Protagonist, Anakin, until the start of the second hour. George and his team have no concept for pacing.
And you must be kidding me if you expect me to believe you didn't realize that Jar Jar Binks was not only a racist character, but also unnecessarily ANNOYING! He should have been gang raped by a bunch of Battle Droids.
And then Lucas creates a character that everyone gets excited about, Darth Maul, who ends up meeting a quick death. We really would have liked to see him as a main player in the trilogy, but no, you killed the only interesting character you had.
Financing a film and creating it practically alone shows that ego and a lack of team imput greatly harmed this film and the weaknesses and plot holes are evident during its entire 2hr15min runtime.
George Lucas would follow Phatom with the impossible to watch Attack of the Clones, followed by the somewhat fun Revene of the Sith. I think the reason Sith is decent is because we get to see all the characters Lucas made us fucking hate get killed and suffer, so the film isn't really the revenge of the sith but more like the revenge of the audience.
