Off the Cuff Movie Review The Phantom Menace

     Last night we watched the movie that our boys have been waiting to see for a long time - Star Wars "Episode I" The Phantom Menace.  I have talked frequently to my long-suffering wife about how the Prequel movies are plagued with bad writing, wooden acting, logical inconsistencies in the plot lines and other things. Yet I hadn't quite found the right word to sum up these films until now. 

   The Phantom Menace was boring. A majority of the movie was taken up by people standing or sitting about, talking. Dialogue can be exciting, if there is appropriate tension, but in this movie there was no tension. Everyone spoke in calm, measured tones, as if they were discussing the weather instead of the fate of  - oh, wait. The fate of some little planet off on the side of the galaxy. 

     The ultimate indicator of how boring this movie was, however, was my sons' reactions.  They watched it with interest, but they just sat there. Even the big pod racing scene didn't get them off the couch. There was barely a comment or cheer raised when the 'good guys' won at the end. They still like 'Star Wars' - -the original trilogy - but the Phantom Menace left them unimpressed.