So Jar-Jar is a spot where my edit is going to be a bit different than a lot of other ones. I’m keeping more of him.
I have two reasons for this.
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He’s the comic relief in a movie that’s very stagey, stuffy, and serious otherwise. So he does have a plot function, but more importantly he has a pacing function. It was just overused in the original and a lot of it wasn’t as funny as it needed to be.
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Him being clumsy, which he was banished for, and then helping save the day by being clumsy and rejoining the Gungans is a good character arc. So we need to see him be a mess throughout the film so his clumsiness can pay off in the battle.
I personally feel like a lot of edits over cut Jar-Jar and the Gungans. My goal is to keep enough of both of them that they have a real presence in the story and an arc, without going over the top.
That’s a fair look at things. I do agree some edits overcut on him, to the point where it’s a wonder why keep him at all.
I just always felt that one gag drags on far too long as “Anakin warns him not to touch the beam > He goes to pick up a tool, getting his tongue caught > Oh no, the pod’s gonna start up soon but his hand is caught > Padme helps him out, being the only person not blind/deaf enough to somehow not notice him through the entire conundrum”
Hence my suggestion to try cutting it down to “Anakin warms him not to touch the beam, or else his hand would be numb > Oh no, his tongue got caught instead! How hilarious”, or even stopping the gag as he walks away with his hand stuck, since the audience could assume he eventually unstuck it offscreen, instead of Qui-Gon and Anakin just not caring about possibly maiming him.