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The Star Wars prequels are divisive, but the best movie from that era is streaming for free on YouTube. Many often have George Lucas’ original trilogy at the top of their Star Wars movie rankings, though the prequels have been undergoing a period of revisionism in the last decade or so.
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This demonstrates how the prequels are being integrated into the modern franchise, despite the movies being highly controversial upon their release. That controversy still often hangs over the prequels today, regardless of how the broader opinion has changed since the early 2000s.
However, one positive opinion that is shared concerns the best Star Wars movie of the prequel era, which is now streaming for free on YouTube.
'The Beginning: Making Star Wars: Episode I' Offers A Fascinating Look Into George Lucas' Mind
Aurore Marechal/Abaca Press/INSTARimages
The best Star Wars prequel movie is not Episode I, Episode II, or Episode III, but rather a documentary film about The Phantom Menace. The movie, titled The Beginning: Making Star Wars: Episode I, is over an hour long and delves into the production of the first prequel. This offers the most fascinating, in-depth look into George Lucas’ mind during the prequel era.
Many know that the prequel trilogy was so divisive due to how different it was from the originals. Lucas’ insistence on pushing the boundaries of digital effects was the driving force behind this, which the documentary leans into. The filmmaker explains his vision in a way rarely seen, across all departments of the film.
The Phantom Menace Documentary Is Better Than The Movie Itself
Because of this insight, the documentary about Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace is better than the movie itself. Episode I is often regarded as one of the weaker prequel movies, alongside Episode II. Only Episode III is counted as a truly great installment in the prequel trilogy, despite the few redeeming qualities of the first two.
The Phantom Menace has long been criticized for its reliance on CGI, characters like Jar Jar Binks, wooden acting, and stilted dialogue. Moreover, the film’s plot is centered around trade disputes, which many deemed too complex and, to put it bluntly, boring, for Star Wars. The action sequences work in the film, as does the music and some of the visuals.
Conversely, though, the documentary of The Phantom Menace is a gripping watch throughout. Seeing exactly how all of these elements came to life is endlessly compelling and interesting, especially for those intrigued by the world of feature filmmaking. This makes the 60+ minutes fly by, which cannot really be said for The Phantom Menace, which often feels like a slog to get through.
Watching The Making Of Episode I Makes You Appreciate The Prequels More
While it is true that The Phantom Menace has its weaker aspects, watching how it was made certainly adds to the revisionist history of the prequels. It is amazing to witness just how much time and effort George Lucas and his team put into the movie, as well as how he innovated several areas of the digital effects world.
All of this makes the prequel trilogy look better in retrospect, especially Episode I, in this case. Viewers can see all the hard work that went into every aspect of the film, which, even if it doesn’t overtly change opinions of the movie itself, can lead to a renewed sense of respect for Lucas and his crew.
With that in mind, one of the criticisms Lucas faced, especially when the film was released, was that he was being «lazy» by utilizing digital effects as heavily as he did. The insight into how all of this was implemented, as well as how much work still went into the practical elements, proves this criticism wrong, beyond all doubt.
If anyone still finds themselves hating on the prequels, watching this documentary is certainly one way to gain a bit more appreciation for them, even if it is only The Phantom Menace.
Hollywood Has Killed The Behind-The-Scenes Documentary
Beyond increasing appreciation for The Phantom Menace, the hour-long documentary raises another point: Hollywood has killed the genre. Behind-the-scenes documentaries such as this used to be much more common, especially in the 90s and 2000s.
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The extended editions of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies are notable examples. Each one contains nine hours of behind-the-scenes extras detailing how each film was made, totaling almost 30 hours of documentary footage. While the documentary for The Phantom Menace was not this extensive, it still delves into all the complexities of crafting the film.
Nowadays, though, this kind of documentary is increasingly rare. Streaming can be seen as a reason for this, given that services like Netflix, Prime Video, and others of their ilk do not tend to release documentaries alongside original programming. The increased reliance on streaming has also meant that physical media has become less widespread.
Most behind-the-scenes documentaries of decades past were found on physical media releases. With fewer people buying physical media, Hollywood is finding fewer reasons to spend the time and money to create a BTS documentary. This is a sad reality, making it all the more important to watch the best movie from Star Wars‘ prequel era while it is available for free online.
