Rating: 
Summary: Episode One Finally reaches home
Review: Before I even get into the film itself, I must say that the standard edition is NOT the proper way to view this film. Unlike the original trilogy, Lucas utlizes the entire theaterical screen, and on the standard version bits have been cut off as to make the action seem cramped and uncomfortable. The lightsaber duel against the destroyer droids at the film's beginning is a good example of this. Sometimes a character will turn their head, only to stare off at nothing because the other character has been cut off. By all means, shell out the extra $$ for widescreen, its worth it. Other than that, Episode One is an excellent, action-packed sci-fi film, with incredible special effects (no-duh), a John Williams patented score (featuring duel of the fates) and cameos by several familiar characters. My only complaint is that the boring parts of the movie do start to get to you on the standard edition, because the extra interesting surrounding eye-candy has been cut off. I still fill a tingle run through my body each time I watch the federation ship blow up at the film's conclusion, it's THAT good!
Rating: 
Summary: A real let down
Review: Being a great Star Wars fan most of my short life, this movie was a real let down. The special effects were good, but that's about where it ends. The characters needed some major developement work. The plot didn't have any reason for being. Compared to the early works of George Lucas, this was .... Even so, if you are a true Star Wars fan, it's a must see, even if it ruins some of your ideals.
Rating:
Summary: Jar Jar Wars
Review: Being a huge fan and growing up with the original trilogy, I had some high hopes for Episode 1. In a nutshell, I hated it. The acting is poor, the storyline is confusing, the special effects are way overdone and that annoying Jar Jar Binks made me want to hate it even more....I virtually felt like I was watching a muppet movie mixed in with Star Wars characters. If it hadn't have been for the light saber scenes and the decent acting of Liam Neeson, Phantom Menace would have been a total disaster. 2 out of 5 stars. Lucas should be ashamed of himself.
Rating: 
Summary: I waited 16 years for this?
Review: Being a lifelong Star Wars fan, I was bitterly disappointed with this film. I had hoped that Lucas would not make the same mistakes with this one that he made with Return of the Jedi, but he made them all, and more. But it won't matter, ultimately; there are too many fans who seem to enjoy childish nonsense, and this film made a fortune, and so will the next two. I had several problems with this movie, namely, the childishness of it, the stupid "virgin birth" gimmick, and the insipid dialogue. To be fair, I went into this one with low expectations. I was surprised to find, however, that I really liked it...the first 10 minutes anyway. This actually made it worse. My hopes were lifted, then shot down. Those first ten minutes (before Jar Jar showed up) had intrigue and great Jedi action. If only the whole movie had been that way. As soon as Jar Jar appears, the entire production takes on an overwhelming feeling of stupidity. Lucas obviously went way out of his way to attract the kiddies in this film. What he apparently fails to realize, or has simply forgotten, more likely, is that kids will like it no matter what. Lasers, lightsabers and spaceships will make the kids love it. That's what made me, as a kid, love Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. The kiddie stuff just took a potentially great movie and dragged it down to the level of a Saturday morning cartoon, and a bad one at that. The "mitichlorians" and the subsequent attempt to explain the Force added to the stupidity. And the "Anakin had no father" bit was just plain insulting. I was actually humiliated at that point, humiliated to be a Star Wars fan, humiliated to be watching this garbage, humiliated to have been at the first showing, especially. The often stupid dialogue was also low-level kid stuff. "We're in trouble, R2! " No kidding. On the plus side, I think that that whole rap about racial stereotypes in this film was the result of a bunch of people who go looking for things to complain about. Overall, the film made me feel as if my entire childhood had been a lie. But I've gotten over that..I can still enjoy the first films, regardless of how much this one stunk.
Rating: 
Summary: 2nd Best Star Wars Film Ever. One of 99's Best
Review: Being a Star Wars fan I was delighted when Phantom Menace came out. I saw it the first day and enjoyed it so much I took my friends, girlfriend, & nieces & nephews. Whenever I'm babysitting a friends kid I slip this in and am glued to the TV with them. The special effects were excellent and the casting was suberb especially Natalie Portman who did an excellent job as portraying young Queen Amidala the only problem is that it looks more futeristic then the original three.
Rating:
Summary: The force is strong in this one.
Review: Being a Star Wars fan, my expectations were very high when I went to see Episode 1. The movie exceded my expectations, and got even better the next three times.
Rating:
Summary: Phantom Plot, Acting, Writing, Integrity
Review: Besides the gripping lightsaber duel there is no reason at all to see this sorry excuse for a movie. George Lucas has sold out completely - especially with Jar-Jar. He was always in it for the money, with the merchandising avalanche of the first trilogy. But, at least there were some redeeming qualities in the first three movies. Ep 1 is simply garbage. The countless millions he spent on the boring pod race and the cliche "blow up the big enemy ship" would've been better spent on a script-writer (or maybe a whole team of them). How humiliating for McGregor and Neeson to be tied to such a third-rate production. Save your money and go see The Lord of The Rings this winter- Tolkien's trilogy is a thousand times better - with much more interesting characters, plot and no pander-to-the-8-year-olds Jar Jar character.
Rating:
Summary: One of the BEST DVDs ever created.
Review: Besides the movie and the usual Star Wars saga, this DVD has TONS of extras that will appeal to anyone. The deleted scenes have been reworked in the studio and look like they could, and should, belong in the movie!! The 'making of' documentary was unbelievable!! It really gives the Star Wars fan an inside look at how things fall together, or fall apart. I gained a new appreciation of the movie after seeing the DVD. It boggles the mind how Lucas worked from nothing to being able to build this incredibly realistic universe complete with intense sub-plots and stories. I gotta say that I spent a good 3 hours just viewing a part of the special features and still have more to go. AWESOME says it all.
Rating:
Summary: George Lucas had a dream, and a quite good one!
Review: Big Budget movies tend to have a history of being bad movies, but not Episode 1. The special effects of this movie were unlike that of any other. Liam Neeson did a spectacular job or portraying Jedi Master Qui Gon Jinn. The only major disappointment regarding the characters was that Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu) had a very small role. Ewan McGregor did a quite nice job of playing the young padawan Obi Wan Kenobi. George Lucas definitely had a vision 23 years ago when he thought up the idea for Star Wars, and this movie reflects his idea quite nicely. It is without a doubt the best Star Wars movie yet. Even better than Empire Strikes back.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone's seen it anyway, but here's what I think...
Review: Billion-dollar special effects, exotic locations, mind-blowing computer animation.. with all the money being spent to produce this movie, would it have killed George Lucas to hire a decent script writer as well? The good things from the first SW movies are improved: excellent fight scenes, wonderful landscapes and effects, terrific music. But others have repeatedly proven (Fifth Element, Godzilla, Titanic) that special effects can't save a bad movie - you can fool a lot of people, sure, but it's not the same thing. Pod races and lightsaber battles aside, this is an extremely weak movie. There's no real villain. No one except Liam Neeson (and Macgregor at times) can act. I've never seen a more obvious marketing ploy, not to mention a more unnecessary irritant, than Jar Jar Binks. George Lucas is fantastic at bringing ideas to life, and with some strong writing he could possibly make the best Star Wars movie ever done... so why doesn't he?
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