As the resident Star Wars fan boy, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to catch Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace on the big screen again, this time in 3D.
It was my third big screen viewing of arguably the film of the prequel trilogy, the first two coming during its original 1999 release. Episode I engaged me as a nine year-old, and that love for sci-fi and the Star Wars universe spiraled out of control for the next 12 years.
Returning to where the magic started, and getting to see it on the big screen rather than Bluray, was a wonderful experience. The sound, as it is with all the movies, was extraordinary with theater speakers. Explosions boom, and lightsabers clash with more impact as John Williams classic orchestration energizes the entire film. It’s what you’d expect from a Star Wars movie.
As the last Star Wars movie was shot in 35mm film, it survives the test of time surprisingly well. It is slightly grainy at times, and after watching digital films for the last 10 years, it occasionally gets annoying. But it is still far better, and is cleaned up surprisingly well, compared to 35mm re-releases at theaters like The Avalon.
The flaws of the movie are the same as before. JarJar is still annoying, Padme is still a creeper and Anakin still makes absolutely absurd noises.
The biggest flaws arise in the addition of the 3D. Like every other 3D transfer of a film shot in 2D, it is incredibly dark. It’s legitimately like watching a movie through sunglasses. Colors don’t pop like they do on Bluray and it is possible to miss small details if your eye sight isn’t perfect.  With the exception of one scene, nothing really pops off the screen. It’s another example of why 2D films retrofitted for 3D are underwhelming, the film wasn’t shot with 3D in mind. One would expect a studio like Lucasfilm, with a stable of the best computer graphics specialists in the world, would be able to add 3D well. But even they can’t manage it because opportunities never present themselves. Cuts are made right before spaceships fly at the screen, and lightsaber battles are filmed moving either away at a wide angle or across a close angle, but never moving towards the screen. George Lucas never had to consider that, and when it’s not shot for 3D, 3D falls flat.
That being said, it is still Star Wars on the big screen. It still has all the complexities, the nuances, and doesn’t suffer with all the hype the original release had to deal with. Darth Maul is still the biggest badass of the entire series, and Episode I still stands head and shoulders above the next two movies. If you’re a Star Wars purist, who hated the prequels outright, this won’t make it any better. But if you’re a fan of Star Wars, and what those films mean to so many people of all ages, you’ll jump at the chance to see it on the big screen again.