The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones?

[StarWarsIsAwesome123]

Which Star Wars Prequel do you think is better?

Quite easily TPM in my opinion.

[Al_The_Strange]

My appreciation for Attack of the Clones has plummeted massively. The plot always felt extremely flaky to me, and the romance that's supposed to unify the whole story falls flat. It's become rather droll to watch.

The Phantom Menace at least keeps my interest, even with its saggy middle and god-awful comedy. Of course, it could be nostalgia speaking too.

The older I get the more I value camp over gravitas. Attack of the Clones seemed better at the time because it came off as darker and more serious, but it's not necessarily the better experience.

[jess1581]

The Phantom Menace, it's more fun, It's Neeson Season, shot on film, better music score, Darth Maul, pod racing, and a yippie skippy doo Anakin before he was tormented by Padme and hated sand.

One takeaway from Attack of the Clones, the awesome arena battle that led to the first Clone War... ok two takeaways, the yoda vs. Dooku duel.

[CyberpunkCentral]

Err... hard to say. The Phantom Menace has a lot of cringy moments, but at least it's entertaining to watch. Attack of the Clones is the first and ONLY Star Wars film where I was bored to tears to watch. Despite the cheesy romantic lines, it's less cringy than The Phantom Menace. Over the years, I have grown an appreciation towards Attack of the Clones. I dunno, they're both weak for different reasons. I'm going with The Phantom Menace. Mostly because it's easier to watch and the marketing felt like an event when it first came out in theaters.

[Cremildo]

I like both, but Attack of the Clones is less convoluted and is more visually interesting, imo.

[ChainsawJedi]

I went for The Phantom Menace. It's a breezy, entertaining Saturday matinee of a movie, the very essence of Star Wars. I love Attack Of The Clones but it does drag at times. The pay-off of course happens about forty-five minutes before the end, which is an absolutely perfect sequence of events.

[HAL237]

Neither are particularly good films, but there is a certain charm to TPM that I find appealing. It doesn’t take itself as seriously as AOTC or ROTS. It has some heart to it.

AOTC is just an utterly soulless slog with an unbearable protagonist and few redeeming qualities.

[Roonan]

They're both great, but The Phantom Menace gets my vote.

[Michael24]

I haven't seen either one in probably over ten years now, but I remember enjoying Attack of the Clones a little more than The Phantom Menace. Mostly because of Obi-Wan having kind of a detective storyline with him following clues. Plus, barely any Jar-Jar.

[MifuneFan]

Having seen both recently again I actually prefer AotC now. Jar Jar and little Anakin are way too annoying and just ruin so much of the film. AotC has a great structure, nice locales and a well told story. Yes, the parts with Padme and Anakin slow it down and take away from it, bur i still found it more tolerable than than the bulk of TPM.

[PS-RagE]

I always liked Attack of the Clones. The romance is terrible but I like the rest.

I did not like Phantom Menace for the longest time. Jake Lloyd’s performance (young Anakin) is just awful. I overlook him now and just enjoy the rest.

[Jaguar Paw]

I recently watched both and time has not been kind to them. Even with taxation of trade routes and Jar Jar Binks, I think I slightly prefer Phantom Menace, mainly because some of the production design is pretty nice. The acting and script feel like a slog and it's boring for long stretches.

I like Count Dooku and Palpatine in AotC, but that's about it. I don't like any of the stuff on Geonosis (bar the Dooku fight at the end), it all feels like a video game, especially the bit in the droid factory. Portman and Christensen are awful too.

[LegacyCosts]

menace is more entertaining I think.

[drush9999]

TPM still has that "Star Wars" vibe despite it's flaws. AOTC is just bad all round.

[Prog5000]

Clones is garbage start to finish, a complete slog to watch.

[Dickieduvet]

TPM for me but there isn't much in it.

[Canada]

Attack of the Clones was a little better, it didn't have any of those uninteresting trade route parts.

[Erzengel]

Phantom Menace gave us Duel of the Fates which I think is arguably top 2/3 pieces in the entire Star Wars series with Main Fanfare and Imperial March.

However, I remember watching AOTC in the theater and my theater getting pumped when Yoda came out to face Dooku. But, the fight between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan & Darth Maul is the superior fight to anything in ATOC.

[Kaiju]

The Phantom Menace, for sure.

[CouncilSpectre]

TPM

Even with Jar Jar in full swing it's better than watching Hayden try and play romance scenes written by George...

Plus Darth Maul and Dual of the Fates....