10 Reasons You’re Wrong About The Star Wars Prequels

7. The Effects (Mostly) Stand Up

George Lucas loves greenscreen. That has to be one of the overarching truths of the Star Wars prequels. Well, yeah, kinda, ish. There's certainly a lot of scenes where actors were up against a green or blue backdrop with the background digitally created or extended. Sometimes it does look a tad wonky and it did stifle the actor's performance at points, but it's not as if Star Wars had never used this sort of trick before; sets were extended and entire backgrounds created with matte paintings in all three of the original films, which is essentially a pre-computer version of a CGI background.

What's most remarkable about the prequels is the level of practical effects on show. Through all three films lots of real models were used and the sheer number of physical or location sets would likely surprise many cynics. This grounding helps make the more in-your-face effects, like the totally CGI creatures, age rather well (Yoda and Grievous stand out), especially when compared to other films released around the same time.

We're not saying the effects are flawless, but they managed to do their job and fit into the world. There's considerably less CGI in these prequels than there is in The Hobbit and it serves to make things feel that more real; The Phantom Menace will hold up longer than An Unexpected Journey thanks to the balance with practical effects.