I just rewatched this movie the other night and I think I have to disagree. When it first came out I thought it wasn't great, but I liked it even less on rewatch. I found jar jar and Anakin annoying, and Natalie Portman's acting was pretty stiff. The Darth Maul duel still holds up, especially the bit where they get separated by force fields and Qui-gon just sits down to meditate. I always thought that was a really good character choice. But overall I didn't really enjoy the movie. I'm planning to rewatch Clones next, so we'll see how it goes.