Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 3D Review

Many moons ago George Lucas created Star Wars. Than less many moons ago, he unleashed the Special Editions back into cinemas. Then Episodes 1,2 and 3 arrived onto the big screen and then…well you get the picture.

There’s not much point recounting the entire story here for The Phantom Menace. It tells the beginning of the entire Star Wars saga, as we know it. A very young Anakin Skywalker starts out on the Jedi brick road, complete with some lightsaber battles and podracing. Not to mention a bone of contention for many fans, Jar Jar Binks. As such, I’m not reviewing the movie par se, but more so, the 3D.

The movie itself, doesn’t hold up as well as it did on its original release (and even that’s debatable for many), but none the less it is still entertaining with some great set pieces including an epic Darth Maul lightsaber duel, all despite the fact that some of the characters are a bit wooden and Jar Jar Binks can make your mind explode. Personally, I don’t have the fundamentalist type hatred for Jar Jar that many do, but I’d prefer if he were in it less. That said, I do understand why he’s there.  Lucas needed something to connect to a younger audience. And maybe that’s why there’s so much hatred for Jar Jar. Many of us grew up with Star Wars. Hell, I was breast feed that blue milk that Luke used to drink. So, it was never going to reignite the magic for the original “older” fans. On the other side of the lightsaber though, it was a big hit with the younger audiences, hence having the same effect as the original trilogy had on all of us.

Onto the 3D. ILM and John Knoll really need to tip to take a bow or 50 here, because it is simply stunning. I was entirely sceptical of the whole conversion process up until now. To be fair, movies shot in 2D and then converted into the third dimension haven’t exactly been any good to date. In fact they’ve been absolute shit. I recently watched an interview with George Lucas who made the point that 3D conversion is an art form. Which is a incredibly valid point, and has obviously been missed up until now. Industrial Light and Magic are like Da Vinci and Michelangelo combined here. The 3D effect works really, really well. From the very get go of the Lucasfilm logo, you are in for a treat. The Star Wars logo and crawl are nearly worth the price of admission alone. The 3D is found throughout the movie, but not exactly where’d you expect it. For example, the 3D in the podrace is more or less non-existent. Where it does work really well is on close ups and in particular the lightsaber finale has a huge sense of depth and scale to it. Some of the space battles also give off a similar vibe. And at times, the experience is really quite enveloping. If Lucas and company keep converting at this level, then by the time Jedi comes around coupled with technological advances, we are in for something truly spectacular.

I’m not sure how well the movie is going to do financially, especially considering that the Blu-Ray release is still quite fresh in many peoples minds, and the timing of this release may turn some people off sitting through the movie again, so soon after a home viewing. All that said, and shortcomings with the movie aside, this is the best example of 3D conversion yet. This is how it should be done!

I thoroughly enjoyed The Phantom Menace on it’s original release(and no doubt would have given it 5 stars), but a fantastic few set pieces can’t really save it from the dark side. Overall, the movie is a 3 star experience at best, but the 3D, which is the draw here really, is 5 Stars! It’s certainly worth a watch, and after all….ITS STAR WARS!!!