First-- the edits ROCK!!!
See, I always enjoyed Phantom Menace, but had to consciously let the fart jokes and whacky characterizations slide. If I could let them go, the movie made me happy.
Now?
Now, the "whacky" characters are at least interesting and some have become genuinely cool; previously borderline scenes work beautifully (for example, the Pod Race is now a dramatic scene about young Skywalker using the force); the story flows easily and all the would-be cool moments (Padme revealing she's the queen, the star-fighter attack on the droid command ship) actually work! This movie is tense now. It works now. I don't have to let anything slide, it just works. Ha-Lay-Loo-Ya!
I didn't like "Attack of the Clones" for the simple reason that Anakin and Amidala's romance had not one moment of truth. When she heard him say "I killed the women and children" and didn't run away from this teenage psycho, I'd truly had it. They stopped even resembling characters and just said stuff to clue us in to what we were supposed to feel about them. The rest of the movie sagged along, limp and forced.
Now?
Now the romance has spark, covers the basic beats and mostly works. The movie flows so much smoother that I now cannot wait for "Revenge of the Sith" (and if that sucks, I can't wait for the Magnoliafan edit which, I have no doubt, will freakin' work!)
I remember when I saw the trailers for these movies. They worked. The trailers had the right feel and flare for what these movies should have been. In that sense, they were better than the movies.
Now, for the most part, the movies feel just as good. As good as they were supposed to.
THANK YOU Magnoliafan, where ever you are! (And thank you Rikter-- I'm burning copies and getting them out there as I type) And mostly, I suppose, thank you George Lucas for shooting and providing the material for these great Magnoliafan edits. I feel it's a great credit to Magnoliafan that these cuts feel like what the movies were supposed to be-- if only Lucas had brought Magfan in sooner!