Rating: 
Summary: Let's be honest, this movie reeked
Review: Sigh. It's not like there weren't some shaky moments in the original Star Wars, or in Return of the Jedi for that matter. But there was also some great character acting by Ford and Fisher, and a solid core of gonzo SF/fantasy narrative values. Oh yeah, and freaking DARTH VADER.(As for Empire Strikes Back, please, it's a virtually flawless piece of popular storytelling. The winner and still champ.) This movie is clunky and soulless. I have no idea what Lucas was doing with himself b/w 1983 and 1999. Sure, there's breathtaking CGI all over the place. But the content is kiddified, stupid and sterile. What's with the fart jokes? With the asinine wise-cracking sportscaster creature during the pod race? (What a dreadful lapse of tone.) With the dweeby little generic 9-year-old cherub whom, please remember, we're supposed to believe is THE LORD OF THE SITH as a tadpole? The only thing that actually stands out about The Phantom Movie as an individual statement is the execrable Jar Jar. Lucas must have had some very personal psychic itch to scratch by inflicting that shuffling, jabbering Gungan atrocity on his millions of fans. I shan't even speculate on the underlying love-hate relationship it attests. Natalie Portman is hot when she's not done up in "royal" regalia like a freaking Chinese New Year Parade float. I probably would have given this movie 1 star otherwise. Portman hotness and Ewan MacGregor's essential coolness (buried here under much wack dialogue, my young padawan) barely nudge it up to 2-star territory. I don't care about the fancy DVD features. Unless one of the features is a clickable link that plays an actual Star Wars movie like Empire, they aren't going to salvage this fiasco. In fact, I hereby overrule Lucas and declare this hash of a toy commercial to be non-canon. None of this actually happened, Star Wars fans. The movies still start with "A New Hope." It is so ordered.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst Episode Ever!
Review: Sigh. This movie was disapointing to say the least. It wasn't just a poor Star Wars, it was just a bad movie. Jar-Jar quips aside, the movie lacked any semblance ofcharacter development, the direction was poor and left the actors with little to work with. The dialogue was, well, ugh. The dialogue in episodes 4-6 may not have been realistic, but at least it was epic. The few epic lines in this movie are reserved for Palpatine, and one or two for Amidala. The action sequences were just dull. Especially the opening forty minutes. This was a combination of poor dialogue and development, see the 2 minutes spent in the Gungan home before another snoozer of an action sequence, in tandem with poor and unispired direction. There were no original or inspired shots, the camera failed to comunicate the emotion of the sequence. Granted this was a problem with episode 4, the other Star Wars Lucas directed, but the final assualt on the Death Star was quite dramtic there. Here it is lacking. I believe the defenders of Star Wars episode 1 are people taken with the fact that it is Star Wars, as they continue to watch and the novelty of it being Star Wars fades, they will come to relaize how painfulthis film is. Lucas saved fantasy once, butnow he's killng it, and 1999 was the year Star Wars died with the death of Chewie and the release of Episode 1. Better luck next time Lucas.
Rating: 
Summary: Phantom Menace ? or just a boring menace?
Review: Simple and to the point. The film is quite enjoyable and watchable however the technology used with computer effects does not have the same touch and chararistic star wars class we all loved in the old triology. Also there were some real boring bits in the film which resembled more of a story line from Babylon 5.
Rating:
Summary: Might as well be a limited edition of 1.
Review: Simple review for me. In my opinion, no DVD = no interest. Lucas can shove this and all his other movies up his Jar Jar Binks.
Rating: 
Summary: just because you don't understand the work of the genius...
Review: Simply put Lucas is a genius. As great as the saga Starwars was the Empire Strikes Back was not only a better story and a better movie but enhanced Starwars itself. The first of three is brillant and opens the door for and amazing following. Enjoy the work of the genius they call Lucas!
Rating:
Summary: 3 and a half stars
Review: Since I really don't know how to start this review, I'll start with saying that Episode 1 is underrated and overrated in different aspects. Yes, there's the special effects, which are magnificent but take up practically the whole movie. And then there's the acting, which is...I'll explain that later. There are many good things about this movie, there's no doubt about that. The special effects and fight sequences are great, and the movie itself is very fun to watch, but not very thought provoking. Although there is almost no plot, it doesn't really matter once you get in to it since you will be eager to watch young Obi Wan face off with Darth Maul, the best enemy in a Star Wars film to date. But then there's the acting and some of the characters... (1) Jar-Jar Binks gets very annoying by the time he says his second line in the movie. No matter what the other characters say, Jar-Jar is always there to comment with "How rude" ... (2) Whoever plays Anakin Skywalker is horrible at it. The kid can't act wort a darn. (3) And some characters, I don't even know why they were in the movie. Samuel L. Jackson was in the movie for less than 5 minutes, and so was the mysterious Darth Sidius, who lacked character. All you see when he's in a scene is him talking in a robe. ..The only good acting is from Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan and Natalie Portman, who plays the queen. Liam Neeson is OK. All in all, Episode 1 is enjoyable, but real star wars fan expecting a movie to top the originals will be dissapointed.. 1999; 136 minutes; Rated PG for scenes of sci-fi/action violence.
Rating:
Summary: I don't care what it says on the box, this ain't Star Wars!
Review: So I buy this video because it looks pretty awesome, right? I never got to see this movie in the theater because I was in the hospital last summer with a broken back and eight cracked ribs after a little car accident that was probably my fault even though I don't remember anything leading up to it. Anyway, long story short: I never got to see this ballyhoo-boo-boo when it was out in the theaters. Now, I'm a big fans of the "Star Wars" series (the movies, not the books - only mad freaks who don't get any play read those wack paperbacks), so I was pretty depressed, laid up in the hospital, reading "Death on the Installment Plan" for the umpteenth time, knowing that there was a whole nation of movie-goers out there who were getting to see "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace," and that I wasn't one of them. Boy, should I have been worrying about something else. When I finally buy the video, thinking it'll be one of those movies that I watch over and over again - like "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," and "The Ewok Adventure" - I discover that this movie stinks BIG TIME! I'm watching it, it starts out pretty good, with Obi-Wan Kenobi (looking like he's really pulled himself together since Darth Vader greased him in the first movie) and some other Jedi dude who looks like Oskar Schindler running around this space station fighting rolling robots with laser guns and out-crafting some evil Asian businessmen who've made some pretty weird fashion choices, if you ask me. Anyway, I already have no idea what's going on, but at least there's some action, right? However, 20 minutes down the line and I'm scratching my head and saying "What? This ain't 'Star Wars!' What is this? It said 'Star Wars' on the box, but this ain't 'Star Wars,' no way no how!" I don't know what else to say. That's about the long and the short of it. Even though this weird movie has "Star Wars" in its title, it's not a "Star Wars" movie by any stretch of the imagination. That pretty little girl from "The Professional" is in it, but I couldn't figure out it she was playing one character or two. Doesn't matter. She looks hot either way. There's also some tall freaky gay guy with a weird face and floppy ears. Also, the little blond kid from that Smuckers commercial plays Jesus Christ or somebody. The Devil is in it, too. I figured that the Devil would fight that little Jesus kid, but he ended up fighting Obi-Wan and the other Jedi guy, so maybe they're saving the fight between the Devil and the Jesus kid for another movie. That "Shaft" guy is in it, too. The new Shaft, not the old one. If the old Shaft is in this movie I didn't see him. Anyway, I found this movie pretty confusing, to tell the truth. I really didn't understand anything that happened in it. I don't know why Yoda stooped to appearing in this film, either. I thought he was loyal to the "Star Wars" franchise, but I guess he's just in it for the money like every other Jedi nowadays.
Rating:
Summary: Come on...admit it...you thought it was pretty cool.
Review: So I guess it's the "cool" thing to trash this movie. Yeah, we know that "The Matrix" had better effects...it was also a completely different type of film. Yeah, we know that the acting and dialogue to Episode I was subpar...have you ever seen the original Star Wars movies? They're not exactly the best acted and written movies on the planet. Here's what I want to see in a Star Wars movie... 1) Cool visual effects...Ep I has them 2) Cool spaceships...Ep I has them 3) Strange worlds with weird new creatures...Ep I has them 4) Awesome light saber duels...Ep I has them 5) Big explosions...Ep I has them 6) Good guys vs bad guys...Ep I has them 7) Awesome sound fx...Ep I has them 8) John Williams' exciting score...Ep I has it Am I looking for "Citizen Kane"? Nope. Am I looking for a film that explains the mysteries of the universe? Nope. Am I looking for Academy-Award winning acting? Nope. I'm looking to be taken away to a place I've never been before. I'm looking to be shown where this amazing world I fell in love with back in 1977, 1980, and 1983 came from...where it started. I'm looking to have some fun and have my jaw drop at what I'm seeing and hearing. I got my money's worth. I think there are way too many people who feel they have to bash this movie in order to get revenge on all the hype, which I admit was way out of hand. They call it a flop. Yeah, $500 million in box office receipts. What a disaster. What a disappointment. Please! It's OK, ya know, you can admit that you liked it. You won't go to hell. You won't be struck down by lightning. If you call yourself a Star Wars fan, and you *didn't* think to yourself how cool the ending light saber duels were, or how awesome the pod race was, then you really aren't as big of a fan as you think. It's Star Wars. It's good. And you know you'll be standing in line when Episode II comes out in a few years. Shut up!
Rating: 
Summary: Come on people, let's be a little positive here!
Review: So it wasn't the best film ever! Were we all really expecting it to be? We've all grown up with Star Wars (hell, it's been on TV every year since about 1985!), IMHO we should look at this new film as part 1 of 6 ... Why was the technology better? Well lets look at the ancient civilisations like the Myans and the Egyptians and then look at where they are now ... Civilisations fall, looks like that could be what's about to happen in the Star Wars universe does it not? The whole Metaclorin thing ... Makes perfect sense, the civilsation fell and when old techology was found no-one knew how it worked ... it became "magic". No doubt in the years after Jedi this sort of knowledge could be recovered. Jar Jar. Ok, I'll give you Jar Jar (although you probably wouldn't want to take him!) ... In short, if you are looking to hate the film you will find no end of reasons to, if you want to love the film then it doesn't matter what people say you'll love it. Make up your own minds, don't listen to any of the robots here ...
Rating:
Summary: Keep an Open Mind
Review: So many of the reviews for the Phantom Menance have taken pot shots at George Lucas and cast for the Characters and story line. Face reality people! The Star Wars Saga is all about the two droids and the events around them. Remember that the books and story lines produce the movies. Episode I truly sets the pace for the others to follow. It answered many questions that 99% of "Die Hard" fans didn't even think about. One can only imagine the next two installments. I think the attention to detail alone made this movie a future classic. Try to imagine all the movies inspired by George Lucas and the incredible work that ILM has provided since the Original Star Wars. Don't worry so much about what "You" expected from the movie and accept the story for what it is.. The beginning of an incredible storyline.
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