Not even close- I’ll give you a 'adequate". Watch Tora, Tora, Tora! and you’ll see a great reenactment of the attack.
Return of the Jedi has two burp jokes in it, so where does that place it on the list?
And as others have pointed out, this simply isn’t true, and it’s provably not true.
The original trilogy were all hugely popular with adults when they came out and were nominated for frekain’ academy awards. They were good movies in their own right for both adults and chidlren and have held up remarkably well. In contrast, movies that were only popular with kids at the time have not held up for adults with time.
So any criticism based on the idea that TPM fails only when compared to the expectation of the same excitement as experienced as child is provably incorrect.
TPM is really bad movie in its own right. There was no characterisation. The plot was incomprehensible. The actions of the characters were inconsistent, illogical and incomprehensible. The individual scenes were confusing and poorly stitched together. There was no overarching story arc. There was no character development.
I could keep going all day. TPM was not a “6”. All it had going for it were some good SFX and a ocuple of god actors doing their best with shitty dialogue. On every other level it fails. It’s not a good adults movie because of the lack of characterisation, emotional depth, crappy dialogue and and illogical character actions. It’s not a good kids movie because of the lack of strong characters, the boring plotline and the inconsistent pacing.
If it weren’t for the SW label, TPM would only ever have scene limited release. It was really that bad. It obviously wasn’t literally the worst movie ever. It wasn’t even the worst big budget movie ever. But it certainly wasn’t a 6, which implies better than average for a cinematic release. It is strictly straight-to-video quality. If not for the SW label it would rate 4 at best: a failure on almost every level, marginally watchable.
People have got to get over their hatred of the last 3 SW movies. People are just way too upset about them. Some folks act as if George Lucas came to their house and killed their kids or something. It’s just pathetic.
I always assumed that Darth Vader had been so deep in the dark side for so long that it was basically intertwined with his soul. Take away the dark side and he just can’t survive. That seems more poetic although less actually sensible than the idea that the lightning fried his circuits.
I take it you haven’t seen “The Room” yet?
I think we are mainly focused on movies that were studio produced films with a budget. I know Phantom Menace was actually independent, but it was such a huge sum of money that it was in the same category.
That’s why I count Battlefield Earth, but not Birdemic or the Room.
It’s nice that, for the first time in my life, I can look at someone else and say, “I think you’re a little too invested in Star Wars.”
And why are you posting rants about a SIXTEEN year old “4 out of ten” film? *Because your expectations were crushed.
*
I was with kids who never saw the first three and they quite enjoyed the 3 prequels.
My kids also enjoy the prequels.
They also like sour patch kids. I believe their tastes are lacking.
I think you’re correct that, no matter how good the prequels might have been, they’d have suffered in comparison to a quarter century of expectations. That doesn’t change the fact that, on the balance, there are really not very good movies.
How old are those kids now, and what do they currently think about the prequels?
I disagree with most of your rant, but you’re spot-on in this paragraph. I’m always baffled when people insist that Star Wars was a children’s film and it belongs to the generation that grew up with it and blah blah blah. Do they think that the entire population of the Earth was 6 years old in 1977? I was in college when Star Wars was released. I saw it with my friends on opening night in a theater crammed with adults (there may have been kids there, but I don’t remember seeing any). After the movie we went to a bar and drank beer as we discussed what we had just seen. The only people who thought it was a kiddie movie were a few sourpuss film critics.
When I read stuff like this, I wonder if there’s another, completely different movie called The Phantom Menace that I haven’t seen. The one I saw had some problems, and it’s definitely my least-favorite Star Wars film, but it isn’t remotely as bad as you make it sound.
I don’t doubt that.
This thread reminds me of people who are still obsessing over their ex 15 years after the breakup.
Hey, Janet was a total bitch and the world needs to know about it for some reason.
That’s a subjective statement, not a fact.
In my opinion, it’s a fact. 
Well, like I said they were maybe a “6”, which to me means “not very good” but “fun” films.
21-26 and Dunno, I’ll ask.
You may hate on Phantom Menace
You may hate on Star Wars
But you leave Sour Patch Kids out of this!
Phantom Menace had two toilet jokes: the one already mentioned and the one where Jar Jar steps into doggie do.
I actually like this explanation. Vader’s life support getting fried? You mean they have all that technology and they couldn’t even jury-rig the thing until they could get him a new one?
And as badly as Anakin was injured in ROTS, he was breathing just fine on his own.
Edit: TPM wasn’t a six. It wasn’t even a four. I’d give it a zero if that’s allowed.
I’m certainly no Star Wars nerd, but are there really people that think TPM was *not *a mess of a film in terms of plot and characterization and all that other important film stuff?
Having seen the wretched thing, I would find it very hard to agree with the idea that its anywhere near a 6 out of 10.