The Phantom Menace is generally regarded as the nadir of the Star Wars saga, and rightly so, with its dull narrative about trade and taxation, its spotty characterisation and wildly annoying lead performance by Jake Lloyd. Even the title is rubbish – and we haven’t mentioned the walking CGI travesty that is Jar Jar Binks.
That said, there are two good reasons to see this 3D-enhanced version of Lucas’s low point: the furiously intense pod race sequence will look completely amazing in three dimensions, and the closing three-way lightsabre battle, ground war and spaceship dogfight will really pop.