LogFAQs > #931807046

It's almost entirely due to the stiff acting and poor dialogue. The broad concept of the story was honestly fine (minus some nitpicks I have), though there's also the problem of audience investment. The second movie in particular begs the question: "Who really cares about a bunch of clones fighting a bunch of droids?"

The villains were basically cartoon cutouts, and the only genuinely likeable hero was Obi-Wan. Anakin was some sort of creepy stalker with rage issues, Qui-Gon died super early and didn't come back because George Lucas was a tyrant director and Liam Neeson hated working with him, Padme was boring as hell, Mace Windu was just Samuel L. Jackson saying Jedi lines, etc. etc.

I like the prequels. I think they have a lot of redeeming qualities that hyper-critical people tend to ignore when trashing them for their negative points. That said, there is a big old bucket full of negatives. Most of the negatives are in the dialogue and direction--the acting seems bad at first glance, but it's not the actors' fault, it's the direction. Everybody in the prequels is a high-tier, oscar-calibur actor. Even Hayden Christensen is surprisingly good when he's paired with a competent director.

There are some incredibly stupid plot points that were completely unnecessary, as well. Why is Anakin a virgin birth? Why is he "the chosen one?" Why is there a prophecy at all? Why do midichlorians exist? How in fuck did Anakin build C-3PO, and furthermore, why does a house-droid on Tatooine need to be fluent in over 6 million forms of communication? Why "kill" Darth Maul in the first movie and try to start over with a brand new villain (Dooku) in episode II with almost no time to get invested in him?

Tons and tons of problems. Too much CGI (a lot of it didn't age well, either), too much 'romantic' dialogue that falls flat on its face, useless/annoying side characters, child actors (Anakin and Boba were both bad), etc. etc. etc.

The force was also turned into a flashy super-weapon rather than a means of 'knowledge and defense' as Yoda claimed it to be in The Empire Strikes Back. Lightsabers were made weightless like a fencing blade rather than a big broadsword like in the OT and the ST...basically, the prequels are a flashy over-the-top anime based on Star Wars, rather than the proper origin of the world's most iconic villain of all time.

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I write Naruto Fanfiction.
But I am definitely not a furry.