Rating: 
Summary: MAY THE PATIENCE BE WITH YOU
Review: As I strolled through the Regency 20 theaters on May 22, 1999,(with a jumbo pack of Twizzlers and large Sprite, my standard movie going fare) my anticipation was high. My imagination was filled with child-like delight. My eyes twinkled like the prom queen's...ok, maybe that's more than you NEED to know, but nevertheless, I was positively enthralled with the chance to view before my very eyes, Star Wars: Episode 1-The Phantom Menace. The movie was, without a doubt, the most hyped and anticipated presentation in cinematic history, prompting people to even wildly erupt in thunderous applause when the 2 minute TRAILER was shown months earlier(I even heard one person exclaim "REWIND IT! ")....But how would it stand to the discriminating critique of Joe Lunchpail and Sally Housecoat? Judging from the word on the street, you'd think this movie was more disappointing than "Showgirls". But the box office receipts say otherwise...Personally, I LOVED the movie, but then again, I'm ALSO inpressed by the savagery of vultures fighting over a raccoon carcass. The movie was nothing more than an introduction to the storylines to follow. No, you will not find any gripping and compelling dialogue, although I do admit to being a little choked up when young Anakin(played so Culkin-like by Jake Lloyd) has to leave his mother. Like many a movie, it is eye candy du-jour, with it's lush vegetation, desert landscapes, and your standard dogfights in space. And THAT is why this movie is fun to watch. You even get to see the Jedi's preference of corpse disposal towards the end of the movie. It has it ALL....While I'm sure that Episodes 2 & 3 will be more spellbinding and satisfying to those who prefer more Shakespere and less shooting, this movie is more pleasing to the eye. We will see more bonding between Obi-Wan(Ewan McGregor), and Anakin(which I pray to GOD will not be played at any point and time by Leonardo DiCaprio), and hopefully we'll see more of Mace Windu(Samuel L. Jackson, 'cause even in SPACE, there's gotta be a brotha' throwin' it DOWN on the bad guys! )...But this movie is DEFINITELY worth your while, even if to just hear the entrancing and soothing sounds of a swinging lightsaber....
Rating: 
Summary: IT'S A FUN RIDE. PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
Review: My title says it all. It's good harmless PG-rated fun that anybody can watch. Sure, it doesn't have much of a "human element" but come on! It's a sci-fi adventure flick that's meant to pass a couple of hours by with flashy eye candy. It's not meant to change your lives with incredible dilogue spoken by unbelievably real characters. And to all of you so-called fans who keep whining out cheesy lines like, "I waited 16 years for this! I can't believe I waited in line for 22 months and this is all I get!": Get a life! If you go to a "Star Wars" movie for insights on life and great character development, are you completely dense! Sure, I love the other movies but the characters are no different from these characters. "Han Solo"? It wasn't the character that was great! It was Harrison Ford. He was essentially playing himself. The character was as flimsy as wet tissue paper. And to those of you who think "Jar Jar" is lame? Just how cool is "Chewbacca"? I think you get my point. At least one of them can talk and doesn't look like a basic gorilla. I loved this movie.
Rating:
Summary: What fans miss
Review: Alot of people don't realize that Phantom Menace was a great movie for 1999, Compared to some of the other movies of 99' Menace has great sequals,which we've all have watched and the story line was great. I think alot of fans just missed the great Han Solo which added a little something more than Jar Jar Binks to this movie. Sorry, Han wasn't born just yet and we needed to all see what started these...before their time trilogys. I give Phantomn Menace the top gun because of the story and the grat Lucas effects.
Rating:
Summary: Just relax
Review: Watching Phantom Menace is pretty much like seeing the conceptual art sketches bought to vivid, fantastic life. Anyone who's ever seen the prototype sketches for the original trilogy will probably have breathed a sigh of relief that many of the final designs turned out the way they did. Still, you can't help but wonder how it could have gone, so just relax, and enjoy that rarest of things, the glimpse of what might have been. Ignore the griping of fans who let their imagination inflame their expectations, and take the film for what it should have been all along - an extended trailer for the finest film ever made.
Rating:
Summary: Phantastic film
Review: This was the movie of 1999. Im glad to see that we ended the millenium with one of the greatest prequels of all time(one of the only prequels of all time). I expected a movie which did not encapsulate the mood and feeling of the previous Lucas masterpieces. Not only did it exceed these expectations but it went one stage further, it had the force. Being the author of many books and journals on Star Wars and Lucas's previous works i feel that he has opened up the Star Wars epic to a new generation.
Rating:
Summary: Phantom Savior?
Review: The Phantom Menace is a good movie. That's all it is though, a movie. If you go i expecting the second coming of Christ you will be dissappointed.
Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC!
Review: Star Wars Episode I was fantastic. I saw it in the theaters and I loved it. My favorite part was the pod racing. 10 minutes of the greatest racing I ever saw. Unbelievable!
Rating:
Summary: What's not to like?
Review: Everybody seems to want to comment on why this one didn't seem to live up to the original, so I'll add my .02 rather quickly. The Empire Strikes Back in many ways defined the original trilogy, and was a cinimatic masterpiece. This trilogy isn't to that point yet. So no, The Phantom Menace is not on the same footing as the first trilogy. But it's only one movie at this point. It's a first-rate entertainment that simply hasn't entered the area of legend yet :) And it's certainly high-quality entertainment. The pod race was dramatic, but even it didn't thrill me nearly to the extent that the climactic lightsabre duel at the end did. That was incredible, almost too much for one film. Palpatine and Maul have a menace, although one entirely different to what Vader presents in the earlier (later?) films. While most of the characters don't develop a lot within the course of this film, each of the major characters do have defining moments which are well-written and acted. The film has all the elements we know and love. Plus, the average quality of the acting is much better than Star Wars at least. Liam Neeson provides a strength of character and while nobody is in even the same ballpark as Alec Guinness or Peter Cushing, none of the dialog is as painful as some of that stuff from Star Wars. Still, the film is subtly different in character from Star Wars. The bad guys are more subtle, the good guys less emphatic. The (Phantom) menace is much more ephemeral, and as such the dark-vs.-light theme is less classical. And, most crucially, this is obviously film one of three. It's a setup. And as such, it's in some sense a tremendous cliffhanger. So many questions about the growth of the Jedi's understanding of the Force, Anakin's fate, and the nature of the Sith are raised and left unanswered that you can't help but yearn for Episode II, which has the potential to be every bit as epic as the Empire Strikes Back. That will be the acid test of whether the Phantom Menace, like Star Wars itslef, is "just" first-rate entertainment or whether it provide a mythology for a new generation.
Rating: 
Summary: Jar Jar Binks:Nails down a chalk board.
Review: Take the best special effects ever, perfect movie audience, almost unlimited budget (plus decades in the making) and what do you get? Well, in this case you get a movie that narrated by a slimy creature that wouldn't even make lizard status and has the voice of nails down a chalkboard combined with the worst computer elevator music mankind has ever invented. OK, the queen had potential, but she's supposed to be two years apart from that seven year old and they're going to be getting married? I don't think so! The plot is non-existent, the acting pitiful and really the whole thing is just set up for the next movie. There are no strong actors and no human actors period of note. Hans Solo, Luke, Darth Vadar...we get the point, were what made first movie and you'll be sorely let down if that's what you watch this for. There's no way to connect to this movie and with so many other good movies coming out right now, get something else.
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars Episode I
Review: I loved this movie. Lucas does a great job getting us involved with these characters just like he did with 4,5 and 6. Can't wait for the next one to come out.
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