Hey, we all have our least favorite Star Wars movie of all 6. For the original trilogy, mine was Return of the Jedi, but with the Prequels, it is now Attack of the Clones. It's even my least favorite of all 6 of them. It even beats Phantom Menace and everybody know how much I love Jar Jar!

The main reason is the whole movie reads like a series of related events that take the characters from point A to point B with no real sense of logic.

Here's how I see the movie: Jango hires Zam to kill Senator Amidala. She misses, and Palpatine is surprised to see her in the following Senate session. Now it is implied that Dooku might be behind the plot to assassinate her. But as Ki-Adi-Mundi mentions, it is not logical. We all know that Palpatine must have been trying to eliminate her as she was one of the stronger voices against the Confederacy of Independant Systems.

Then comes the whole series of setpieces that are interconnected only by a thread. Somebody tries to kill Padmé again (Zam) but this time the Jedi are waiting. They capture her, but she is killed by an unknown figure. The weapon used to kill her is a saberdart. Obi-Wan thinks "Well, the only guy who would know where it comes from is this cook I know..." How convenient that Dexter Jettster instantly figured out what the Jedi Temple archive droids were unable to analyze. It comes from the planet Kamino. Conveniently, Kamino has been erased from the archives, so Obi-Wan goes there himself (how did he find it so quick with only "South of the Rishi Maze" as a clue?) There, he finds out a Jedi Master ordered an army of Clones then years earlier right before he died, conveniently forgetting to mention it to the Jedi Council and everybody else. Then Obi-Wan fights Jango and his 10 year-old son Boba (destroying all the cool impressions I had of that character). He follows them to Geonosis where he finds out the CIS is building an army of droids, then is conveniently captured so Anakin can come rescue him (after a laughable scene in the droid factory that was shot at the last minute). But, what is a Star Wars movie with no monsters? So of course, we are treated to not only one, but three monsters as the Geonosians happen to have an execution arena. Padmé conveniently gets her midriff exposed and Yoda comes to the rescue with the clone army he picked up on Kamino. A lot of Jedi are killed in what is to become the first battle of the Clone Wars. Then Anakin and Padmé get married in secret.

I have a big issue with the Dexter Jettster thing. Imagine if he didn't happen to have seen a saberdart before, or if Obi-Wan didn't happen to know him or even think of checking with him, or if he wasn't there. Too much depends on this one guy giving him the next clue. If he knows the Jedi, why doesn't he check their maps and tell them which planets are missing (well maybe that's asking too much, but you see my point). Since Palpatine (via Dooku via Syfo Dias) ordered the clones, wouldn't it make more sense that he would give the Republic a clue when the right moment came? And why is the bahind-the-scenes plotting so complicated and why do we have to assume so many things?

Also, it feels very much like Lucas knew where he wanted to go by the end of the movie, i.e. the Clone Wars have to begin, Anakin has to be married, the clones have to be discovered by the Republic, but didn't put much effort in the how it happens. The whole middle part doesn't flow naturally. The fight sequences feel manufactured like a Hollywood summer blockbuster (ok, we need a saber fight here, a starship chase here...) Anakin's first bruch with the Dark Side is by killing a tribe of Tuskens? Give me a break! And Padmé doesn't even react when he tells her he killed women and children.

Most of all, the whole relationship between Anakin and Owen is not satisfying at all. So, it turns out Annie's mom married Cliegg Lars who is the father of Owen. How many Obi-Wan lines from A New Hope does that destroy? "He didn't hold with your father's ideals. He thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved." When exactly did Anakin live on Tatooine? I know Obi-Wan lies to Luke about his father wanting him to have his lightsaber when he was old enough, and about Darth Vader killing is father, but why make him even more of a liar? Does he mean that when he saw some Jedi come to his farm to rescue his mom then leave the next day, Owen had a big issue with him going back to his Jedi training on luxurious Coruscant instead of staying on a desert farm with a bunch of strangers?

I'm sure I am forgetting some points. Granted, there are some cool things, such as the relationship between Anakin and Palpatine, but this is my least favorite Star Wars movie.

Update Sep.19th: One of the things I forgot to mention is the horrible dialogue. Especially all the dialogue between Anakin and Amidala. It feels and sounds so stiff and formal. The line about the sand that gets everywhere especially makes me cringe. And they always talk like "I do not" and "I am not." Although the dialogue is not great in any of the movies, I don't think romance stuff is GL's strong suit.