Slashdot linked to this review of the upcoming Phantom Menace DVD. Unfortunately it’s such a fanboy review, I got the feeling that if George Lucas had released Phantom Menace on Betamax that this would have been offered as a reason to go out and find a working Beta player.
But I do have a point beyond ripping on fanboy web sites. One of the things that this review and other, less enthusiastic, reviews of the DVD have mentioned is the inclusion of a documentary, “The Beginning,” which is (based on the reviews I’ve seen so far), one of those “Making of…” films that doesn’t actually suck.
Anyway, the documentary gives some clues as to why Phantom Menace sucked so bad. At one point, Steven Spielberg shows up on the set and Lucas actually tells Spielberg (apparently being very serious) that the final droid/Gungan battle to is “literally War and Peace.”
Comparing a CGI droid battle to one of the greatest novels ever written proves that Lucas has simply lost his mind. No wonder his movies are so boring now (I fell asleep during Phantom Menace and had to be woken up by one of the 12 year olds I took to see it).