zombie84 said:
The one thing I will give TPM much credit for is it's design and imagination. As Roger Ebert said, there really is this genuine sense of wonder in every scene. I mean, the story and the characters aren't very imaginative, unfortunately, but the world itself is quite captivating. I guess this is complimenting the art department rather than Lucas himself, but just visually, the film is to this day quite breathtaking, even if sometimes the CG is a bit hokey. Actually, there is something weirdly charming to the sorta-perfect-but-not-quite CG and digital composites, compared to the slicker, more seamless stuff of today, maybe like how the early model and stopmotion work has its own charm. It has a character that the other films lack, and part of it I think is that it's still archaic in some ways--shot on film, still had big sets (Theed hanger), lots of big location shooting (Mos Espa), more model work than ROTJ, wasn't finished digitally but photochemically, filmed in the old English studios rather then the new Australian ones, etc.
Maybe when people say it has a more OT feel, this is subliminally influencing them.
Nice point with the CG.
Donno how it's with you or others, but my perception of SFX is somewhat similar to how I look at dialogue and plot:
There are all kinds of different levels of realism, from almost completely believable, to somewhat too perfect and otherwordly, to fantastical, to corny, to comically cheap absurd.
Suspension of disblief can be bent and regulated according to the material, and just as I can, say, buy a world that's kinda like ours but with fantastical elements, I can buy a look that's aesthetic and kinda realistic, but still obviously fake.
Most of AOTC probably falls into that category: the graphics are shiny, pretty and even, and ultimately recognizeable as fake - but still, they're colorful, pretty, "realistic" in terms of general movement, lightning, texture etc., so that I can easily suspend my disbelief and perceive it as a "shiny prettified reality", just like laid-back, but structured dialogue (gotta love Alien on that).
The only environment I truly despise in that movie, is the Jedi Temple.
Kamino is a somewhat funny one - the inside looks dreamy and surreal like in an alien abduction experience (which is what they were obviously going for, judging by the looks of the aliens etc. - not that I found this idea to have made much sense in the context), the outside looks like an evil, stormy fortress of evil from a Tim Burton movie or something.
But the very moment you're okay with it and agree to accept this Kamino place as a somewhat surreal cartoon place (they're Cloners, after all) - they shoot the scenes on the landing platforms on a set with real, artificial rain, and it looks completely realistic :D
Fuck you, Jorge.