What Ruined the Star Wars Prequels? (If you didn't like them?)

[Wonderland]

Was it the acting? Writing? Jar Jar Binks?

It was the fake feeling to me.

 

[Scarim Coral]

To me it would have to be the overused of CGI and the acting.

 

[Hazy992]

Jar Jar Binks, the stilted acting, the boring story (Trade Federation? Seriously?), Jar Jar Binks, Anakin being a whiny emo ***** and not just wanting power, the CGI, Jar Jar Binks, Jake Lloyd and oh, Jar Jar Binks.

 

[Spaghetti]

The over-choreographed lightsaber duels didn't help. I know that they're super powerful Jedi/Sith, but the bouncing around, ten minute fights didn't have much suspense and felt like they could go on forever. In the origional three, the fights could go either way and wasn't all about who could jump higher or swing a lightsaber faster but a battle of wits.

But I suppose it's up to personal opinion...

 

[The_Waspman]

Lucas, plain and simple.

 

[Captain Pirate]

While I loved them, being what I grew up with, I can still find fault in them.
Probably the biggest one is the way Anakin was acted.
And no, it's not because Hayden Christiansen is a bad actor, I actually thought he was quite good. I've re-watched them all multiple times and I never see any bits where I cringe or go 'Ooh shit, that was bad'.

It's because the character was wrong.
He was well acted (In my opinion), but he was acted as an emotionally invested, love-dependant character.
This therefore made the way he suddenly changed to the dark side all the more wrong, and while I mention it I think that was done badly too; There's one thing switching sides to save your wife, another is forgetting your entire moral code that you've had your whole life and slaughtering children.

In my opinion, Anakin should have been, instead of secretly wanting forbidden love, actually secretly desiring forbidden power, and instead of Palpatine trying to convert him by manipulating him into doing it for fear of lost love, instead turning him to the dark side by convincing him that the Jedi don't have the balls to lead the galaxy to a peaceful future, and that the dark side potentially could.
I think this would be better because there is little actual reason other than Anakin's hurt pride at not being a Master to make him hate the Jedi Order, making it quite unbelievable when he suddenly is willing to kill them all.

 

[JoJo]

Honestly? People complaining about them constantly.

 

[Erja_Perttu]

Terrible script, a story that wasn't worth telling, plot holes, nasty looking CGI, a stilted love story, wooden actors, stereotypical characters and, most of all, making Darth fucking Vader look like a whiny little *****.

I can't think of one thing to LIKE about the prequels. At least Harrison Ford had enough charisma to pull of the crappy dialogue in the original trilogy. Whoever it was playing Anakin Skywalker was about as charismatic as a rock covered in a slimy, stinking moss.

 

[triggrhappy94]

Go watch the older movies, maybe even watch some serious old movies while your at it too.
The original triology was made up of both drama and action for those with some taste in movies.
The newer movies are family/kids movies. Dumbed down to be access able to even the slowest kids. Now, the originals weren't complex in a way that would be inaccessable to kids; they just weren't made solely for five year olds. My evidence: Jar Jar fucking Binks.

Spoiler: The Extanded Rant

Now that only accounts for the movie and part of the second. But there's enough bad acting and CGI in those to make up for any holes in my hypothesis.

 

[Hazy992]

Also, the Empire is Jar Jar's fault. Seriously, he was the one who proposed to the Senate to give the Chancellor more powers, which of course paved the way or him to form the Empire.

 

[OneTwoThreeBlast]

What ruined them was the fact that George Lucas was never a very good writer or director in the first place.

I promise I am not saying this to troll. This is my honest answer.

 

[Pb Zeppelin]

This 20 second clip from Episode III succinctly summarizes all that is wrong with the prequels.
http://youtu.be/LjdkqrIJFr4

 

[Phuctifyno]

The simple innocence of this question gives me cause to believe you've never seen Mr. Plinkett's reviews. Check them out, if you've got a few hours to kill. www.redlettermedia.com

Short answer: everything.

 

[General Vengeance]

George Lucas's ruined Star Wars. However my favorite review of the newer Star Wars films released starting in 1999 with Episode 1 the Phantom Menace and onward are covered very well by Red Letter Media.

Part 1 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI]
Part 2 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG1AWVLnl48]
Part 3 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdQwKPVGQsY]
Part 4 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOlG4T1S2lU]
Part 5 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvp1r2UpiQ]
Part 6 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORWPCCzSgu0]
Part 7 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIWKMgJs_Gs]

 

[Hero in a half shell]

The prequels lacked heart. There was no creative input by anyone but Lucas, and boy did it show. It led to terrible dialogue (writing dialogue is probably the thing Lucas is worst at).
Everything was CGI, to a rediculous degree, that it constantly takes you out of the immersion by looking dodgy and fake, and the backgrounds that are supposed to look immense just look flat and generic. This also made it virtually impossible for the actors to act soulfully, and they end up sounding like they are voicing dialogue for a Bethesda videogame NPC.
The plot was weird, having this whole unneccesary political aspect that didn't make sense, and skipping over key points, like Anakins actual training and growing up.

 

[TheKruzdawg]

While I loved them, being what I grew up with, I can still find fault in them.
Probably the biggest one is the way Anakin was acted.
And no, it's not because Hayden Christiansen is a bad actor, I actually thought he was quite good. I've re-watched them all multiple times and I never see any bits where I cringe or go 'Ooh shit, that was bad'.

It's because the character was wrong.
He was well acted (In my opinion), but he was acted as an emotionally invested, love-dependant character.
This therefore made the way he suddenly changed to the dark side all the more wrong, and while I mention it I think that was done badly too; There's one thing switching sides to save your wife, another is forgetting your entire moral code that you've had your whole life and slaughtering children.

In my opinion, Anakin should have been, instead of secretly wanting forbidden love, actually secretly desiring forbidden power, and instead of Palpatine trying to convert him by manipulating him into doing it for fear of lost love, instead turning him to the dark side by convincing him that the Jedi don't have the balls to lead the galaxy to a peaceful future, and that the dark side potentially could.
I think this would be better because there is little actual reason other than Anakin's hurt pride at not being a Master to make him hate the Jedi Order, making it quite unbelievable when he suddenly is willing to kill them all.

That's actually a really interesting perspective that I never quite considered before, but it makes sense if you think about it. I was never quite sold on the whole "Anakin-Padme" romance to begin with, as I didn't find it nearly as interesting as say, Han and Leia from the original trilogy. But you're right, it is a pretty big leap to go from using unnatural power to safe your secret wife to slaughtering basically everyone you know and grew up with.

I will say that it is possible that Anakin may have given up on trying to be good (and therefore think rationally about moral decisions) once he started down the dark path. I think he realized it after letting Windu die, that even though he began doing all of this to save Padme that there was no going back to the Jedi. And so he decided to commit to it fully without reservation (or mostly, as there is still some conflict within in him by the time of ROTJ).

 

[mrm5561]

the fact that they keep trying to make us care for people who we know are going to turn evil. anakin, the storm troopers, o and grevious was pretty stupid. and why the hell did they killed maul he looked even more badass than vader

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Probably because they turned what was once one of the greatest villians in movie history, into a whiny little *****.