Obviously he didnt deserve the harassment he got regardless. Like even if he was dogshit he wouldnt have deserved that. But I just rewatched Phantom Menace for the first time in awhile. Young friend of mine are going through the star wars movies because she was a sheltered homeschooled kid and hadnt seen them. Already did the OT, starting on the prequels.
Other than the obvious "oh wow, the racial stereotypes of literally three different alien species in this movie is insane", the main takeaway my rewatch gave me is "wow ok, Jake LLoyd is average at worst". He was just like, a regular kid actor? Nothing to write home about like say, young Maise Williams or something. But absolutely fine?
I'd say the last part had a bigger influence than the kids' actual ability
(the natural dialog part). And direction problems too probably. With kid actors I think direction matters a significant amount more than talent.
Anyway obviously I disagree that he was in any way noteably bad. A few lines were wooden but again, I feel that was a direction issue. |
I do think its hard to imagine his story not starting when he was a kid though. So that part I definitively disagree with.