A Criminally Underrated Film

I can say confidently that I feel this is easily the best prequels, but I wouldn't call it underrated, or even good. Using words like breakthrough, fascinating, and riveting don't help your point IMO. It can pass for okay if you ignore Jar Jar, kid Anakin single-handedly taking down a ship, some of the more bland/wooden acting, and humor that only a three-year-old would find funny. It does have the best light saber duels, most practical effects, and probably the best performances of the three movies. The music is pretty good now that you mention it. Easily the best of that trilogy.

I thought it was ok, alright it wasn't a classic but I'm sure if I were younger I would of thought differently about it eneterily, good fights good villain, which is a shame we had so little of him I thought he could of been used more overall it's a half decent attempt

Like others said it's an okay film. The score is great and Darth Maul is really cool. But it pals in comparison to the original trilogy or even the newer movies.

B-

I'll say it does feel the most linear of the prequels, without jumping around. That helps because jumping around AOTC felt skittish.
Alas, TPM's final act, the Saturday morning cartoon show that is the ground battle, takes me right out of it. The droid army is fine, it's the stumbling bumbling Gungan army with its giant cartoon blue balls + Jar Jar's accident prone success which sucks.

I know ppl wanted more Darth Maul because he's awesome in battle.  I wanted more of him because of how stealthy & sophisticated he seemed - like his search on Tatooine.  He should've been much more than window dressing.

If you're interested in Maul, watch his arc in Star Wars Rebels, the animated series, as well as his first appearance on the Clone Wars animated series.  Pretty good stuff!

TPM is a gorgeous film (visually). I will give it that. The cinematography and golden age style directing are both stellar. It is also brimming with creativity and imagination. So far so good. I wish TFA and the other two prequels had those things going for them.

BUT... The story is a mess. Who is the protagonist here? It's not Anakin. He's not introduced until well into act two. Is it Padme? It is after all the story of her planet yet she is often the least important character on screen. So it's Qui Gonn then. But WHY? He dies at the end and has no part in the next two movies! What an odd choice.

The pod race, while visually magnificent, is a self indulgent diversion from the story. Is it about Naboo anymore? Or is it now about Anakin? How many things are they trying to do in this movie??

WHY is Anakin a child?? How can you build a trilogy when the main character switches actors??

WHY is Obi Wan so unimportant here???

How bout that dialogue? Wooden and flat.

And I must of course mention the Gungans and Jar Jar. Infantile and cringe worthy.

Still, year after year I find myself watching this again because of the pros I mentioned up top. If only the script could match the visuals and imagination this would've been a masterpiece.

I wouldn't say it's terrible like others do on the Internet. Whenever I watch the franchise, I always include Episode 1 in the lineup (I watch all of the PT actually). One thing I'll say about George Lucas is that he's excellent at an overall story/synopsis/idea man. What he really needed work on was his dialogue and flushing out characters. I will say it's a shame Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) had to turn down George Lucas' offer for him to co-write on Episode 1's screenplay due to Lucas' longstanding issues with the film unions. I bet they could have come up with some excellent content together!

If I truly had my way with the franchise, I would have wished Episode 1 started at the point Episode 2 starts in the timeline. This would solve the issue of the age gap between Anakin and Padme in Episode 1 (him being a little boy while she was a teenager), so when they proclaim their love for each other later in the trilogy, it's less...odd. Drop the "kill Padme" storyline. Make it so Padme was never a Queen and she was just a senator or princess. Then Anakin could get to know Padme through their personal-yet-reserved dealings with each other during their Jedi/Senator affairs - with things eventually getting romantically involved over the course of the trilogy. Their relationship would build organically instead of going from barely knowing each other as kids, to professing how life is unbearable without each other in the course of a few scenes. I think that would be more believable.

Episode 1 and 2 would also heavily build on Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship. The Anakin/Obi-Wan scenes are my favorite in the PT...which sadly, they get so few together in the trilogy! I think that was a mistake. In my fantasy version, their relationship would be one of the driving forces of the trilogy. The trilogy would follow their Jedi missions together - providing lots of opportunities for them to bond together on screen when Anakin wasn't with Padme or Palpatine. We would also see the various members on the Jedi Council more (flush each one out to be unique) and the Jedi way of life in general. The Jedi path would be shown to be too restrictive for Anakin, who becomes increasingly obsessed with abilities/power. Darth Maul would be Sidious' apprentice for the trilogy until Darth Vader comes along.

Then Episode 3 could stay more or less the same.

Anyway, I feel people are overly critical of Episode 1. Yet I do see how the precious film time could have been better used on an older Anakin and Padme from the get-go.

Interesting. Yeah, that would have been great too. Ever since the original Star Wars movie came out, I had always dreamed of what the Clone Wars were like and the subsequent hunting down of the Jedi that Ben Kenobi told Luke about. It was little disappointing to finally see how little of that was included in Episode 3. 

I wouldn't say underrated but I do think it's overly criticized. The problems that people levy at the movie like stilted dialogue, special effects overload, or cutesy sidekicks were complaints with some of the original films. It's ultimately an uneven but serviceable space opera.