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Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Full Screen Edition)

Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Full Screen Edition)

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $13.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Actually, 2.5 stars.
Review: When I saw this movie in theater, I was astonished. 20 years had been erased from my past. It was the early 80's again. I was reduced to a gawk-jawed wide-eyed 5 years old.

The second time I saw this movie I drew the following conclusions:

(For the most part) Good/Great actors performing poorly. Amazing Special Effects with which the actors/extras did not know how to interact (you could tell in many background scenes that the actors did not really know what was going on around them, and did not know how to act with imaginary machines/monsters)

Underrated story with some gaping holes (I had to watch it twice to understand exactly what was going on and what Palpatine's design really was (he reminded me of Dudly Smith from LA Confidential.)

Great action sequences. But as great as they were, they could have all been improved by multiple rewrites (preferrably by L. Kasdan and not George Lucas. Retire the writing table George, retire the directing chair, your vision is great, but your skills are lacking.)

Overall, worth watching once, not worth buying on video/DVD The DVD doesn't even have a commentary which it desperately needs. Lucas needs to explain himself (if that is possible) to his legion of ex-fanatics turned fanatical critics.

(PS: Jake Lloyd was miscast. I didn't hate him, but he was too young/inexperienced to play such an uncontemporary role. Interacting with things that he cannot see took it's tole on his performance. I was expecting to hate Jar-Jar, in his first scene I was uneasy about him, but as the film progressed, to my own astonishment, he grew on me. By the final droid battle, I was laughing aloud to his bumblings. He was corny, but so are Ewoks. Jar-Jar (his horrible name aside) took the bulk of the corniness upon himself. In any Lucas movie there's bound to be corny humor. I'd rather it be Jar Jar who expresses it than Liam Neeson. This movie is drawn out and very light-hearted. People did not like this. They forget it is just the introduction to the series. An ideally contrasting setup to the upcoming, dark brooding sequels.)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: utter junk
Review: i could hardly make it past 10 minutes of this movie. the original 3 star wars were bad enough, but this one now adds the fact that they can be pompous because it's 25 years later and they're all rich. steer clear at all costs

the only thing of note are some of the all CGI battle sequences. everything else is for waste

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Drinking Problem Meets Star Wars.
Review: Jar Jar Binks. A fine idea: introduce a character who is so aggravating and without purpose that only a terrible case of amnesia would alleviate our pain. Clearly a cheap sequel, why did we expect otherwise? We Foolish Fans. George, I want my money back. On second thought, if this lightweight excuse for a movie is evidence of a drinking problem you may have developed, perhaps you can use my $7.50 along with everyone elses to pay for a quality treatment center. Let's just hope their treatment of you is better than your treatment of us.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good movie, but could have a better plot
Review: This movie blew me away the first time I saw it. I thought it was the best movie I had ever seen, and it still is. But after seeing it a few more times, I realized that the plot of the story kind of, what's the correct terminology.... I have got to be quite honest, the visual effects were so unbelievable, that it should of won the 1999 Academy Award for best visual effects, but I would think that it was not quite up there on getting an Academy Award for best original screenplay. Anyway, if you are a sci-fi movie buff, I suggest that you do see this movie, and enjoy it (the visual effects especially.)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Lucas should leave screenwriting to someone else
Review: The visual of this movie is so meticulously constructed the it made me twice as sad to see the story and screenwriting skill is only third graded. Where is the tension in plot? Do we care about the characters and what is happening? I remember watching the underwater scene and was quite fascinated by the beauty of the transparent palace or whatever you called it...then I fell asleep. Watching this movie is like staring at a beautiful piece of oil painting for more than 2 hours straight; one can't been blamed for falling asleep once or more along the way. This film should be cut into a 3 minute trailer, because lets admit that a trailer is what it is.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Back in Timeline; Forward in Time
Review: Ever wonder why you can watch the first Star Wars trilogy over and over again and still feel the Force? Despite the lack of special effects that we now come to expect these days, you seriously can't tell they were filmed in the late 70s early 80s. And you never feel like you are watching an "old" movie. The trilogy has the same magic as Stanley Kubrick's "2001 - A Space Odyssey" in that it remains timeless and it hasn't been saturated by Hollywood culture.

The coming of episode one brought with it a sense of the 90s that will probably make you uneasy the first time you watch it, especially since most of the creatures were 3D animated. I nolonger felt like I was meeting new civilizations as most everyone spoke English. And the use of Jar-Jar for comic relief made me cringe. I found it very hard to take a liking to any of the characters at the beginning, especially as they were put into danger soon after the opening title. I honestly didn't care if they made it to the next scene.

All-in-all it's a good movie and will keep you interested. The whole film is completely bright and colorful, which makes it a perfect candidate as a good DVD. The more times you watch it, the more desensitized you'll become to it's underlying tone and you'll enjoy it a lot more as a whole. You might even believe that young Anakin is really a good child actor and isn't just repeating script. I am just wondering how they can make a smooth transition from this, to "A New Hope."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jeez ease up
Review: You know there are many a people out there who bash this movie relentlessly. Ease up, this was a pretty solid, and definately entertaining movie. I understand where the people who didn't like it come from, yes at times it seemed to be made for a much younger audience and yes Jar Jar is annoying as all hell. But this is still a very well put together and great movie. There are people who also dislike the so called "new star wars." But you have to understand, Lucas wrote these movie's years ago. And he wrote them in order all together. So this is the true start of his vision. If you can suck it up and manage to suffer through a few stupid Jar Jar lines, then you will really enjoy this movie. Which "YES" is good enough to be placed next to episodes 4,5 and 6.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The worst Star Wars film, and bad period
Review: Most of the problems of this film have probably been covered in other reviews, but anyway...

The film tells you almost everything and shows you nothing, simply poor filmaking. We should see many of the things spoken of in clearly illustrated ways, instead I'm supposed to buy it because Lucas wrote it down. Get real.

And what did Lucas write down? Drivel. A filmaker with that little talent should not be allowed near a word processor. Hire a good writer for gods sake. He doesn't know how people talk, or how emotions work evidently. Too much time spent leering at special F/X I guess.

Speaking of special effects, how can a man who owns IL&M and has more money than he knows what to do with, has more time to perfect this film than any other director would be given, and manages to produce effects that are subpar. Another problem is that they're the equivalent of a run on sentence, they punctuate nothing.

The racial stereotypes are pretty plain to me, it just seems thoughtless.

Two things I can give this movie as a plus. The score, and the lightsaber duel is the best ever in a SW movie, not the best swordplay ever mind you, but for SW it was great.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: At last ! X-Mas is on Octhober 16th this year
Review: Lucas is learning from the fans, i just cant wait to get my fingers on this DVD. This is a treat fore the whole family. Now let's do episode 4,5 and 6. Next year X-mas is even better on May 22, i will sit in the theater watching episode II. See you all there. Greetings from the donkey from Shrek.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: PEE-YEW!!
Review: Man, who'da thunk such a highly anticipated movie in one of the world's most beloved sagas would be so bloody awful? Who to blame? Lucas! After all, he had potloads of money to throw at the thing, the best SFX studio in the world, and nobody looking over his shoulder to tell him what to do. It's his baby, and it was stillborn. From the painfully racist characterizations, to the slow paced plot, to the pallid attempts at humor, this flick was a clunker from beginning to end. Only when the Jedis get into action does it begin to take off - unfortunately, there's only about fifteen minutes of such action here. Don't waste your time - check out the original trilogy (actually, the first two flicks) instead!


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