The Phantom Menace: “The table scraps of Star Wars.”

I first watched the prequel trilogy of “Star Wars” in my senior year of high school because I was a purist for a while (“purist” meaning someone only interested in the original trilogy), avoiding the prequel because of the bad things I heard about it.

But I eventually gave it a chance as I started to become more open-minded to watching new films and less influenced by negative reviews.

With the May 3 re-release of the first of the “Star Wars” prequels to theaters, here are my thoughts on this game-changing film in the series.

This film (and the prequel trilogy as a whole) provides the same escapism as the original trilogy that takes you back to being a kid.

The technology is very impressive and arguably allows for more of it with newer effects, as well as great world-building. The characters and world through this newer technology are kind of reminiscent of “Boohbah” and “Teletubbies,” both nostalgic childhood shows, so it has a somewhat similar feel for me.

That being said, from a character and humor standpoint, it doesn’t exactly measure up. This is off the heels of what is considered by many (including myself) to be among the best film series ever made, and you know that impact is going to be really hard to replicate. While the original trilogy is great for both kids and adults, this one is definitely more on the kid-centric side.

But still, you’re talking about a film series that gave iconic characters, and while a good chunk are here, most aren’t even the same. Yoda especially. Compared to his debut in Empire, he really isn’t funny. Like at all.

This more serious Yoda is easy to make fun of, especially in “Revenge of the Sith,” because he just feels like a completely different character. That being said, I give this one credit — it at least had a puppet Yoda (before they switched to CGI for later re-releases, something I really wish was never done), as it does at least somewhat resemble the Yoda we came to love in the originals. Plus, Yoda does return to his normal self that we fell in love with in The Last Jedi thankfully.

And I’m just gonna say it, I actually can’t help but get a laugh out of some of Jar Jar’s lines. Not a lot, but a couple. I admittedly am a sucker for juvenile humor and comic side characters. That being said, Han Solo’s dark and sarcastic humor is simply irreplaceable.

As for the new characters, does anyone honestly believe they will go down in cinematic history like Luke, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, etc.? Will this Obi-Wan really leave the same impact as his original older counterpart? Will Qui-Gon Jinn or Padme leave the same impact as the original characters? Undoubtedly, no, they are just, like I said, irreplaceable.

As for the newer effects, though they do allow for a lot of creativity and world-building like never before, evoking that sense of childlike joy, the downside is that since it looks very different (which is an issue with the prequel trilogy as a whole), it is sort of hard to connect to the original trilogy.

What I mean by that is when Obi-Wan explains to Luke in “A New Hope” about how Darth Vader “killed” Anakin Skywalker, it’s kind of hard to be fully on board and be like “Yeah, this is how it really happened.”

There are also callbacks to the original trilogy like Jabba the Hutt and the Jawas briefly appearing just for nostalgia’s sake without really doing anything with it — not that I mind this, it just feels a bit forced.

Also, the whole thing about Padme deceiving everyone into thinking her bodyguard is herself isn’t executed very well. It feels kind of forced and doesn’t leave much of an interesting reveal. And the political stuff, man if it was tough to follow in the original trilogy, it is really tough to follow here (and again, the prequel trilogy as a whole).

Seriously, how is this convoluted plot about blocking trade routes supposed to connect to Anakin becoming Darth Vader? Again, it’s sort of hard to be fully on board. Why Naboo? That’s never really explained either, why is Naboo even really important to block trading of all places?

So, on the whole, the prequel’s escapism and technology satisfied me, but it just can’t compete with the original in terms of characters or humor. Compared to the original trilogy, I don’t see it as awful as I know a lot of people do, but nonetheless, I can see their side. I guess I’m just more soft-hearted and admittedly a kid at heart.

The table scraps of “Star Wars” would be the best way to describe this one and the prequel trilogy, barring “Revenge of the Sith” which I think comes close to the original trilogy — greatness, flaws, and all.

If you’re just looking for that same great escapism and not super picky, this’ll definitely do it for you. But realistically, it’s safe to say the original trilogy will never be beat.