Being someone who can memorize the date I have seen each “Star Wars” movie for the first time, I admit I was beyond excited to see “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” in 3D.

I know that it is probably the least liked film in the “Star Wars” franchise, but I still somehow find a way to enjoy it.

However, I was not impressed by the 3D.

Going into the movie, I thought for sure that Lucasfilm was going to impress the audience with spectacular 3D effects. I was expecting explosions, lightsaber battles and pod racing to come right at my face. This was not the case.

The opening Lucasfilm logo, the opening scroll and the end credits all stood out well, but as for everything else, I can’t say the same.

The 3D effects were mostly in the characters.Not the characters facing the screen, but instead a character, which had their back to the screen seemed to pop out really well. I even pulled my 3D glasses down during a couple of scenes, and the picture on the screen seemed clear, which means that there were no 3D effects happening. The only 3D effect of a character that was cool was when the hologram of Darth Sidious, played by Ian McDiarmid, is facing toward the audience.

All in all, it is the same movie that came out in 1999.  Yes, Jar Jar Binks is in it, as well as Jake Lloyd, who plays the young Anakin Skywalker, later becoming Darth Vader. If you’re a hardcore Star Wars fan like myself, I’m sure that you will go see this movie, even if it does have 3D effects which brings me to my last point.

If Lucasfilm was not going to make the 3D effects really spectacular, then it shouldn’t be advertised that way. It is Star Wars, and if you just bring it back onto the big screen, people will go see it.

If you are going to go see it simply because it is Star Wars, then I’m sure that you will enjoy it. If you are going to see “The Phantom Menace” just for the 3D effects, I will go ahead and tell you to save your money because it is nothing special.

I give the 3D feature of this film 1.5 out of 5 Top Hats.