As ‘The Phantom Menace’ turns 25, six (non-Jar Jar) things the ‘Star Wars’ prequel got right

The teeth-gnashing aspects of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” have been chewed upon for a quarter century, from Watto to Anakin Skywalker’s Midi-chlorian count (and miracle birth) to almost everyone’s favorite punching bag, Jar Jar Binks.

The teeth-gnashing aspects of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” have been chewed upon for a quarter century, from Watto to Anakin Skywalker’s Midi-chlorian count (and miracle birth) to almost everyone’s favorite punching bag, Jar Jar Binks. Yet as the movie that kicked off George Lucas’ prequel trilogy hits theaters to commemorate its 25th anniversary for the de facto “Star Wars” holiday May the Fourth, let’s accentuate the positive by identifying a half-dozen things the film, and the franchise’s patriarch, got decidedly right. Each of these elements have echoed through “Star Wars” lore, and in most instances been put to better use elsewhere (in sequels, the various animated series overseen by Dave Filoni and the recent live-action ones, like “The Mandalorian” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi”) than they were in the original film. Think of them as creative building blocks, which overcame clunkier parts of the script and awkward performances to influence the rest of the “Star Wars” timeline. They’re presented here in ascending order of significance: 6. The Emperor’s long game. The idea that Palpatine/Darth Sidious (played by Ian McDiarmid) would spend years undermining the Republic from the inside got a bit wonky, but it created a fertile backdrop for how the Sith could outmaneuver the Jedi. 5. The digital effects. Admittedly, this was a bit of a mixed bag, since Lucas’ emphasis on the visual components seemed to come at the expense of paying attention to the acting and performances, and in ways to overwhelm them. Yet he credibly moved the bar forward in terms of digital effects and design, which paid off in the scale of the action sequences.