This weekend, Disney/Lucasfilm are re-releasing Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in honor of the film’s 25th anniversary. For fans of a certain age, The Phantom Menace carries a ton of baggage with it that almost no other film can compete with, even after a quarter century. After years of discussing potential new Star Wars films, the movie came out amid the largest marketing push in film history and was pretty routinely panned by critics and fans alike. Just this week, I was discussing the film with a neighbor and we both have memories of trying to talk ourselves into how good it was, only to ultimately come around on it being a disappointment.
However, as the years have gone on, many fans have decided that the film is better than its contemporary reaction suggested. Is that because the hype was never going to be met, no matter what? Is that because we now realize how hard we were on a literal child for having to read terrible dialogue? Did we all catch pod racing fever later in life? There are lots of reasons, but the film remains one of the more polarizing Star Wars films, alongside The Last Jedi, in terms of the film having intense love and vehement hate both living in the fandom.
And so, we’re asking a specific question this week: how does the film hold up to you now compared to when you first saw it? Has your opinion of the movie improved over time? Are you even more offended by Watto, and so your position has dipped? Or, somehow, has time done nothing to your cold heart of stone and you feel exactly the same way as you did in the 20th century?
Vote in our Reader Poll, and check back on Monday for the results.
