Honestly, I was slightly let down by the experience fidelity-wise. Because of the CGI used, many elements were blurry here and there and because of the composite shots combining real elements with CGI, there were some moments where for example Jar Jar Binks would be blurry but the background would look normal. Also there were these weird pixelated colored dots that’d appear onscreen every five minutes or so.
But hey the audio was fine and the movie is WAY better than I remember.
I haven’t seen this theatrical re-release but I saw it when it opened back in '99. There was no way it could live up to the hype of a brand new Star Wars film after about 16 years.
I bought the DVD and watched it a couple more times and then forgot about it. I bought the Blu-rays in late 2020, and watched the prequel trilogy again for the first time in over a decade.
I think Phantom Menace held up the best, possibly because the healthy amount of practical work. The CGI of the sequels hasn’t held up so well.
My review of the Episode one from 2020.
I posted a few thoughts here.
It was my first time watching it on the big screen since it’s initial release which was an interesting experience as my expectations were much lower, so I wasn’t as disappointed and I have chewed over the faults on so many levels that I was partly immunised to them (apart from the the highest level issues - it made me think how the scope and scale of it was just too big and how different starting off with a more focused story could have really helped).
So, yes, it has issues, but it also has some great scenes and the Duel of the Fates is peak Star Wars.
Plus we got a preview of The Acolyte afterwards and that looked great on the big screen - it’s showing a tonne of promise.
Yeah I was also surprised at how entertaining it was (although I’m beginning to think that the pod race sequence was basically ripped from the 1959 Ben-Hur chariot race sequence lol). People complain about the politics, and I enjoyed how they were being used in the movie (although I kinda wished they showed exactly how the people of Nabboo were being oppressed exactly).
That clip of The Acolyte made me excited too, although a bit wistful since we won’t be able to see the series in theaters at all. That would be so much fun. I have a fair bit of faith in it despite all the noise because some of the writers have written House Of The Dragon and Mr. Robot episodes, I think if the show ends up being bad they’d have to have done that on purpose lol. Review bombing the trailers is completely ridiculous.
Yeah I was also surprised at how entertaining it was (although I’m beginning to think that the pod race sequence was basically ripped from the 1959 Ben-Hur chariot race sequence lol).
One of Lucas’ strengths is having a good eye for earlier material and being able to weave it into a sci-fi setting. Ben Hur’s chariot race is still exciting, and the best bit in the movie.
That clip of The Acolyte made me excited too, although a bit wistful since we won’t be able to see the series in theaters at all. That would be so much fun. I have a fair bit of faith in it despite all the noise because some of the writers have written House Of The Dragon and Mr. Robot episodes, I think if the show ends up being bad they’d have to have done that on purpose lol. Review bombing the trailers is completely ridiculous.
It looked great and thr fight choreography looked on point - it was an interesting contrast to Duel of the Fates, which really raised the bar for lightsaber battles.
I saw this at an AMC BTW
Thanks for sharing your feedback. I didn’t make it in the end, but curious what others will say.
It’s a bit sad that the CGI was blurry, I wonder if that’s a general issue.
It’s probably widespread, it’s not that different than how it looks on my 2019 4K copy of the movie. It’s just more noticeable because it’s on a huge projector.
I do hope that the splotchy pixels issue was isolated to the theater I went to though. I found it bizarre and have never seen anything like it at a theater before.