I was shocked when I discovered that if you just removed every scene with Jar Jar + pod race, the movie REALLY tightened up. Not because Jar Jar is offensive/stupid, but because a lot of of the pacing and tension are thrown off. It's like he was added into an existing decent script, with minimal effort made to integrate the new parts. (No idea if that's true, but that's how it feels)
I watched Ep 1 again recently and IMHO Anikin is the worst part, not Jar Jar. Most of Jar Jar's scenes are blissfully short and at least the kids enjoy slapstick. Anikin entertains nobody, and he's critical to the plot.
