Original release date: May 16, 2002. It had a premiere in Tribeca on May 12th.

Rating: PG.

Length: 2 hours, 22 minutes

Background:

A long time ago in a galaxy far away… I did a recap of Episode I. Rocket back to it and you’ll find why George Lucas decided to do a prequel trilogy.

Episode I was a tremendous success, so of course Episode II wasn’t far behind. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, then made an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival before debuting worldwide.

It… did well. Surprised? Of course not. Worldwide, it brought in over $649 million, though with inflation adjustments it still stands as the lowest grossing live action Star Wars movie of all time.

It has, of course, been rereleased on every home media format imaginable.

Review:

Let’s knock out the technical aspects first. The sound is fantastic. The HD is beautiful and the computer generated imagery looks fantastic.

I feel like I was hard on Episode I in my last review. I said I liked it, but it was a very wavering “like.” Maybe because, out of the prequel trilogy movies, it is the one I’ve seen the most by a good number of times.

Episode II is far superior. It starts out interesting, which is something I can’t say about Episode I (again, maybe because I’ve seen it so many times and played through the beginning on the LEGO game a lot).

I’m just going to give a loose summary again because I don’t want to spoil Star Wars. Count Dooku is threatening the Galactic Empire. Following an assassination attempt, Amidala is put under the watch of Anakin Skywalker as well as Obi-Wan. We are years in the future, so Anakin is no longer a little podracing child but a Hayden Christensen instead.

We find the planet of Kimino, where an army of clones – perhaps set to attack! – are being made for the Republic. I’m going to skip a bunch of middle details here, but there’s a lot of fun fighting involving Yoda, Samuel L. Jackson, and loss of limbs (a Star Wars tradition!).

There is some really fun stuff at the end that kicks off the “Clone Wars” story that spawned an animated movie and companion series as well as sets us right up for the next Episode.

A lot of the things people complained about in Episode I were alleviated in Episode II. There’s more adventure and less taxation. Jar Jar? He’s still here, but in smaller doses and 100% more tolerable. There’s plenty of character development, too.

Now, my updated best-to-worst rankings:

1. Episode 2 – Attack of the Clones

2. Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace

Extras:

Like Episode I, we have a few here but not the sizable amount you’d find on a Blu-ray. There are considerably less than there were for Episode I.

Trailer – It’s a trailer and it is a minute long.

Deleted Scene: Anakin and Ruwee – Did you know Ruwee is Anakin’s father? 47 seconds might help you understand that. I wonder if Anakin is a father.

Deleted Scene: Anakin’s Nightmares – Anakin’s nightmares only last 58 seconds? Lucky.

Deleted Scene: Extended Speeder Chase – If you count 54 seconds total as extended, you’ll love this. We do get more Zam Wesell in this, and she’s a character I wish we had more of, so there’s that.

Deleted Scene: Padme’s Parents’ House – Today on MTV Cribs, take a two minute tour of the home of a senator’s parents.

Deleted Scene: Raid on the Droid Control Ship & Extended Arena Fight – This one gets three minutes and some weird editing, but it’s here.

Should you watch it?

Yes. It’s a Star Wars movie. Watch it. Even on the “not a Star Wars movie” scale, I’d recommend this one. Character development, scenery, and action are all many steps ahead of Episode I. There’s not a bonus feature really worth your time, however.

Original release date: March 19, 1999. It had a premiere in Los Angeles on March 16th.

Rating: PG.

Length: 2 hours, 16 minutes

Background:

A long time ago in a galaxy far away…

… George Lucas decided he needed some more money. The original “Star Wars” trilogy was a smash not only in theatres but toy aisles across the world. Money rolled in. Lots of money. It’s like a Jedi mind trick took over the entire world.

In the early 1990s, Jedi mastermind George decided to start development on a new trilogy… a prequel. The advancements in CGI really helped fuel his interests in developing the stories.

The original three movies would be retitled as Episodes Four, Five and Six. The first prequel, releasing in 1999, would take on Episode One as its title as “The Phantom Menace.” New characters would meet characters from what were now later episodes, with CP30, R2-D2 and Yoda all appearing in Episode 1.

An all-star list of names joined the film, including Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kiera Knightley.

Upon premiering, the movie didn’t do very well. It opened with a gross of over $64 million, and went on to pull in $924 million. I guess it did okay.

It was rereleased in 3D in 2012, opening with another $22 million and grossing, in 3D alone, $102 million. True story: this is the only of the nine main “Star Wars” films I saw in a theatre. I saw the 3D rerelease and fell asleep. It was the only time I’ve ever fallen asleep in a theatre. I’m sorry, George.

Review:

First, let’s talk looks. It looks great. The HD is fantastic, colors are strong and pop, and CGI looks great. The sound is great as well.

Now, about the move. Episode I is very divisive in the Star Wars fandom. Truthfully, any movie that isn’t one of the originally three is divisive.

Personally, I enjoyed it this time around. It was long… too long. We could have lost half an hour somewhere in this and not have actually lost much.

The most divisive thing that happens in this movie is Jar Jar Binks. Poor Jar Jar. Jar Jar, with his Stephanie Tanneresque “How rude” and all, was clearly designed for children and weirdos like me. He’s annoying, childish, and goofy. I don’t think he’s as bad as everyone says, but I get it.

The other new characters are quality additions to the Star Wars Universe and fit in well. Queen Amidala and Emperor Palpatine especially fit in well, but nobody is a better fit than Darth Maul. Darth Maul, as is tradition with characters named Darth, is just amazingly cool. He has an amazing look and a DOUBLE-SIDED LIGHTSABER. How is this cool guy the bad guy? I sure hope nothing horrible happens to him in this movie.

The movie has confusing moments. The opening scroll, one of the things everybody knows about Star Wars movies, this time includes the word “taxation.” Why. There’s a lot of political dealings and arguments really, which I guess exist in the Star Wars universe as well, but theirs end with lightsabers and Jar Jar Binks. There’s also podracing, which would lead to a good video game.

Unlike most of my movie reviews, I feel bad spoiling Star Wars movies. Even ones from 1999. If you want to know details of how it ends, Wikipedia is your friend or you can of course watch it.

As I review the nine main Star Wars movies, I’m going to rank them. Here’s our rankings so far. Guess what’s #1 out of the one movie I’ve watched this time?

1. Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace

Extras:

We have a few, but nothing to the extensive length you’ll get if you go buy the Blu-Ray or the boxed set.

Trailer – Yep, it’s a trailer and it’ll take a minute of your life. Do you need a trailer to go see a Star War?

Deleted Scene: Anakin’s Return – Anakin returned. It took all of 17 seconds, going by the runtime.

Deleted Scene: Bail Organa of Alderaan – 19 seconds, but an interesting one for SW nerds. Bail Organa, as portrayed by Adrian Dunbar, was cut from Episode 1. The character was recast in Episode II with Jimmy Smits, so this is a rare opportunity to see the original Bail.

Deleted Scene: Battle on the Boarding Ramp – Another 19 seconds. I said cut the movie down half an hour, but they just chopped off twenty seconds here and there.

Deleted Scene: Complete Podrace Grid Sequence – This IS a good one. At six minutes, you can even count it as an actual scene. As you’d expect, this is the c omplete podrace sequence. Characters were cut out of the final version, but they’re here!

Deleted Scene: Extended Podrace Wager – Yep, it is as titled and for a minute of time.

Deleted Scene: The Battle is Over – Another whole twenty seconds.

Deleted Scene: The Waterfall Sequence – What happens when Qui-GOn, Obi-Wan, and beloved Jar Jar go over a waterfall? Take one minute and see!

Deleted Scene: Trash-Talking Droids – Robots talk trash! 27 seconds of trash!

Should you watch it?

Spoiler alert – I’m going to say watch it for all nine movies. It’s the Star Wars trilogy. It’s hardly the best of the movies (or even its trilogy), but it looks fantastic, the characters are fun and the kids will love it. Excluding the podrace segment, the deleted scenes aren’t worth your time.