The Phantom Menace was a glorious success in terms of box office earnings but the movie that was included in the Star Wars prequel trilogy met with heavy criticism for one primary reason. The trilogy, unlike the sequel movie series, seemed juvenile as considered by fans and critics.
Now, a few decades later, the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas came to defend the prequel trilogy. However, fans are not ready to accept the reasoning the legendary director provided. Star Wars is one of the biggest and most successful franchises in the history of entertainment and Lucas was the mastermind behind the visionary sci-fi world which still adds shows and movies in it.
George Lucas Defends Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
George Lucas has finally responded to the criticism of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Recently, the legendary director was awarded a Palme d’Or for his glorious contribution to the film industry at the 77th Cannes Festival this year. With that note, the director recently had a chat with The Hollywood Reporter about the trilogy that came 16 years later after the original movie series.
Lucas defended the movie from criticism of the prequel trilogy including The Phantom Menace which stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Pernilla August. The director claimed that it was a movie made for kids.
It was supposed to be a kidâs movie for 12-year-olds that were going through puberty, who donât know what theyâre doing, and are asking all the big questions: What should I be worried about? Whatâs important in life? And Star Wars has all those things in there. Theyâre buried in there but you definitely get it, especially if youâre young.
For context, The Phantom Menace scored only a 53% score on Rotten Tomatoes and that is very low considering the standard of the franchise. Still, the movie managed a stupendous earning at the box office grossing over $1 billion (per The Numbers) against the $115 million.
Fans Find It Hard To Digest George Lucasâ Defense Of The Phantom Menace
Lucas didnât stop there, the 80-year-old industry vet who wrote and directed The Phantom Menace further argued that âcritics and fans who had been 10 years old when they saw the first oneâ and when the prequel movie trilogy was released, fans and critics were over the idea of a child movie. Now fans took to X to respond to the comment of the director.
how tf is Phantom Menace a kids movie? đ and this is from someone who enjoys Episode II and LOVES Episode III.
— Teejay (@TeejayMcFly) May 24, 2024
âKids moviesâ donât center around trade agreements and votes of âno confidenceâ
— Daren DoctorManhattanâą (@darendoc) May 24, 2024
Kids movies don't usually involve the slaughter of children even Jedi.
— Dan Baldwin (@jacktuesday1) May 25, 2024
No, George is a bad writer, simple as that. He had some really good ideas, but didn't have the writing skills to fully flesh out the films. We all saw what the originals had vs what the prequels had. We were supposed to love his bad writing, we don't…
— Karrus (@karrus01) May 24, 2024
The first movie was instantly popular with adults. Kids get bored watching Empire Strikes Back.
I don't know what he's on about.— KingmakersGameDev (@Ian_Fisch) May 24, 2024
Lucasâ original intention behind the movie does not seem like it was designed to be a child movie, at least some fans will never believe that. Of course, the 1999 movie has a PG rating but still, at the crux of it, it was far from being a children’s movie.
Everybody said the same thing about 3P0, that he was irritating and we should get rid of him. When I did the third one it was the Ewoks: âThose are little teddy bears. This is a kidâs movie, we donât want to see a kidsâ movie. I said: âIt is a kidsâ movie. Itâs always been a kidsâ movie.
Lucasâ insistence on the idea and his defense did not work among fans very well. Of course, the franchise has been his treasure trove but the intent of the space opera was clearly visible on screen.
Stream The Phantom Menace on Disney+
