IFDB Review: Star Wars - Episode I: The Ridiculous Menace:

[MCP]

I want to start off by saying that Frink has created a truly unique edit of TPM. Turning TPM into a comedy is a wonderful idea, one that seems obvious given the source matieral, yet no one to my knowledge has done so up to this point. And with a few caveats, Frink pulls it off very well, showing signs of true comedic and editing talent.A/V Quality: 10I am rating this based on the source I was watching, which was streamed from Vimeo in SD (and I know Frink used the SD as a source). All the additional video and audio material (and there is A LOT of it) were also of high quality. I have no problems with the video quality for this edit. The only minor problem I had with audio was that some of the added audio clips were not intelligible to me due. But I think that might be an editing issue, not a quality one.Visual Editing: 10I noticed no problems with the visual editing aspect of this movie. I loved the fact that Frink used purposefully silly transitions in place of the standard star wars ones, and it really had the ridiculous feel of someone who is editing a home movie and thinks that using every single out-of-the-box transition is a "good idea." Not for a real movie, but it was comedic genius for this edit! I only wish Frink had replaced the very few real star wars transitions that were left with his own. But that isn't a technical problem, so it doesn't detract from my visual editing score.Audio Editing: 6This, unfortunately, is where I had the most problems with the edit. While some of the audio editing was terrific and well done, there were far too many dubs that were jarring. I understand that part of the goal of this edit was to make the comedy more important than audio editing, but at a certain point, the distraction caused by the sheer number of these types of edits became too much for me to ignore. I want to point out that Frink did do some excellent audio work in terms of integrating sound effects, droid voices, and new sound track material. And some of the dubbing did work well. But the big problem for me were the audio dubs that just completely did not fit and felt like they were jammed in there for the sake of a joke. Unfortunately for me, when the audio was too jarring, it made it so I couldn't appreciate the joke. It might have been better to cut the scene or try a different approach. That way it would have not detracted as much from the other elements of the edit which worked so well.Narrative: 7There are some moments in the edit where Frink pulls off some really nice new narrative elements/ideas. I loved how Qui-Gon bet on winning Anakin's mother instead of Anakin. Also, the Pod Race change was also great (though it did kind of go on too long after the main point was made). Little ideas here and there also worked well. But in the end, I really couldn't follow what could be called a true narrative for the edit. That would be fine for a comedy, only the problem became the length -- many areas of the story were drawn out by using dialog that was either repeated multiple times in a row, inserting extra pauses, or just having parts of the story that weren't funny but there anyway. My least favorite aspect of the narrative was (what must be an inside joke) the obsession with wookies that seemed to crop up mid-way through the edit. I just didn't get it. However, with all that being said, the narrative wasn't "broken" in any way; it just didn't appeal to me as a whole.Entertainment: 8Comedies, more than any other genre, are very subjective. Luckily, Frink demonstrates he has some true comedic talent, and there are some hilarious moments sprinkled throughout this edit. Some of my favorites include the new TC-14 voiceovers, calling Darth Mall "Darth Darth," all the droid subtitles as well as R2s subtitles, the new sound effects such as ringing phones, Banaka's ring tone, and the video game Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul at the end. The beginning of the movie is especially strong. What ended up making me lower my rating here were two things: first, the aforementioned audio editing which was just too jarring to ignore. Second, the edit felt like it dragged on too long...and while Frink tried to make Jar-Jar more palatable by adding subtitles, he kept Jar-Jar's annoying english voice and also the subtitles weren't really trying to be funny...so yes, there was too much Jar-Jar for me in this edit. Also, some of the jokes just didn't work for me, and these had to do with extended sequences of repeating the same thing over and over, either by rewinding footage and showing it again (and again), or having characters continuously say the same things to each other (over and over).But these were still not enough to cause me to not enjoy this edit overall, which is a tribute to the quality of Frink's best ideas. Perhaps, if Frink ever does choose to revisit this edit, he can take a more critical eye at condensing things so that the best parts are able to stand out more, as there really are some hilarious moments in this edit!OVERALL RATING: 8Again, I want to applaud Frink for taking a bold new approach to a much edited movie. RECOMMENDATION:I can recommend this movie with the strong caveat that one must be prepared for the audio to not be on par with standard edits, and the smaller caveat that the movie is a bit long for a comedy. If you can live with that (and I suggest you try!) then by all means watch this edit, as you will find much to enjoy! Kudos to you Frink, on your first edit, and I look forward to seeing your future works!

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