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

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

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

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent DVD of a pretty good movie...
Review: I'm a sucker for this movie. I know it should have been better, but I love it anyway.

But you probably know whether you like the movie or not already. What you may not know is what a fantastic DVD package this is.

1. Picture quality is unbelievable.
2. It will take you hours to get through all of the additional material, and with the exception of a feature on an Episode I video game, all of it is worthwhile if you're at all interested in this movie or the Star Wars series in general. Only complaint: there's some overlap of material among all the various features/documentaries.
3. The menus are clear, intuitive, and attractive. It's nice to see some real care taken in the menu design.
4. The "commentary mode" is the most consistently clear and informative example I've heard. No idle, disjointed chit-chat here.

If you're sitting on the fence, buy this. It won't make you like Jar-Jar, or the sometimes clunky dialogue, but this is what all DVD packages should aspire to.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I hate it! No... can't stand it, Not my Star Wars!!
Review: I'm almost ashamed... I can't believe i gave anything with a Star Wars title 3 stars... Can i live with myself? Where's that bootleg copy?!?!

Ok with that said lets get on to the review. The movie itself was a decent movie, but it didn't live up to the name of Star Wars. The acting was pretty good, though Anakin couldn't have done a better job. A few hard core Star Wars fans might notice every historical mistake made, such as the alterations in some peoples' ages and the C-3P0 problem... but other than that, no one else will notice. The movie does more for the Star Wars fan than it does for the average movie goer. Most Star Wars fans looked upon Phantom Menace as a menace, tarnishing the name of StarWars with the ever annoying Jar Jar Binks. This character seems to be out of place, way out of line, and just unnecessary comic relief that was never needed in any of the other movies.

I wouldn't suggest this movie unless you are a Star Wars fan. Though the soundtrack is good and the pod racing scene was great, there isn't much you can get out of the movie other than historical data on the Star Wars universe, and unless you're a fan, you probably don't care about the historical value. If you saw it in the theaters and liked it enough to see it a second time, then you proably got everything you will out of it. Renting it might not work for you, because the one great thing about it was it's Big Screen production, and a 45" TV with stereo won't cut it (Though a theater system with a 16:9 super screen might fall just Shy of the Imax i saw it on). Again, i would only suggest this movie to the fans.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great movie, but E'Nuff Action?
Review: I'm as big a Star Wars buff as anyone. I loved TPM and I actually saw it 6 times in the theatre(1 in IMAX). Everytime I saw it, it seemed to get better and better, but there are still a few things a huge fan like myself would love to ask George. Things such as why didn't Maul have a bigger role. I read so much hype about how he was the new evil,(Maul's character was as dark and cool as I thought he'd be), but he really wasn't givin a chance show us what he could really do until the end. The scenes he was in, were fantastic, but he seemed to appear then disappear, literaly! I just think that if he had more scenes, it would have made the movie a-little more satisfying for us action-adrenaline freaks! Hopefully, the sith lord in the second movie won't suffer the same fate.(George..hint,hint,hint! )

Second is Jar Jar....the more times I watched TPM the more he grew on me. BUT! I think he has definately run his course...Anything more than a bit part in Episode II would be a big mistake.

Another quam is the dogfight between the Naboo starfighters and the Droid fighters around the control ship. There was so much potential which couldn't be brought to fruition in the five ten-second scenes we saw of the battle. The space battle scene in Jedi is what helped make that movie great.

Don't get me wrong, I loved TPM, but I just wanted a little bit more darkness and little bit more action. Hopefully, the second and third episodes will grant this dedicated fan's wish.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Space opera at its worst
Review: I'm certainly glad I didn't waste my free movie pass to see this movie. I waited until a friend loaned me his VHS copy, but still I felt cheated. Lucas dashed off a no-hearted effort on this one. It was like an especially weak Sci-Fi Channel production. In fact, it's not even up to those standards. Lucas acts as though neither special effects nor audience tastes have progressed since the late seventies, when Star Wars was somewhat innovative. What a worthless story line. The scorecard of political intrigues certainly wasn't worth following. I can't remember when I've seen a movie with so little character development. The acting was abysmal, with the exception of Liam Neeson. The quiet dignity he brought to his role was very effective, but wasted. His good acting made the terrible acting of everyone else around him look even worse. Lucas was obviously influenced by the wooden acting of the various popular Star Trek series. The kid that played Anakin and the woman who played the queen were especially terrible. The character of Binks had no endearing qualities to him, so I assume he was placed in the movie solely to annoy us. Lucas sleepwalked his way through this one. I've seen many terrible movies in my day, but this is the first one in which I felt cheated out of two hours of my life.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What did you expect?
Review: I'm finding the scathing reviews of this film laughable. I mean what did you people think? Anyone who can't see that there was absolutely no way Lucas could have even come close to living up the expectations of this movie - is naive to say the least. Sure the movie has flaws and could have been better, but not a whole lot better.

Phantom Menace has three main flaws:

1. The ending space battle against the "control" ship featured no attack plan, but rather Anakin just bumbling around up there in space accidentally blowing the ship up. This creates a serious credibility problem, but more importantly doesn't give the audience any guidance as to what to be routing for, and then what to cheer for when it's achieved.

2. The ground battle was too cartoonish, and needed to be more violent...But worst of all was Jar Jar's bumbling around clumsily while participating in the battle. Come on - Jar Jar a General?...P>3. The Vice Roy (spelling?) of the Trade Federation didn't come off as genuinely evil in their demeanor. Their speaking accents were dorky, clumsy and too light mannered. They just didn't give off a convincing "evil" vibe. On top of this, all the "suffering of the people" of Naboo caused by the Trade Federation and its army was never shown - only spoke of. This only further lessened the "evil" creadibility of the Trade Federation.

Had these problems been anticipated and fixed, this film would have been much more convincing, but still wouldn't have lived up the expectations.

And those that criticize the acting in PM - come on. The acting in the first trilogy is even worse in some ways (exceptions are Alec Guiness, Peter Cushing, James Earl Jones, Ian McDiarmid, and Frank Oz).

I wonder if the "Star Wars Generation" (which I am a member of) is more critical of this film because they are no longer kids, and are much more sensative to the flaws in a movie's acting, plot or action sequences? I tend to think so.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Show me the DVD!
Review: I'm giving this 3 stars because no VHS movie can warrent 5 for me now that I have a DVD player. Though I thought this movie does not rank up there with the prequels, I will add it to the collection simply because it's Star Wars. If you haven't seen it yet, which I doubt unless your my mother, compare it to the Star Trek series. Some people will buy every episode, even the bad ones, because they are all interlinked. I compare this to Star Trek 5, the worst, in my opinion, of the trekkie series, and hope the next one has more flare, humor, and humanism in it rather than flood out the story with eye candy.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It's Not The Worst Movie Ever Made But It's Pretty Close
Review: I'm going to resist my urge to compare The Phantom Menace to any of the other Star Wars movies so I won't get into that pitfall. The simple truth is that The Phantom Menace is a movie designed for an audience that has a more limited attention span. It is not a movie with any fantastic moment when you can see it all so much clearer. It's not meant to to make you feel any empathy for any of the characters. It's not a tear jerker. You don't have to feel pity for any of the characters either. It's not a comedy either? What is it then? The Phantom Menace is a theme park ride that has a requirement for all riders. Leave your thinking cap outside. The entire Phantom Menace experience for me was like being inserted into The Matrix. Maybe I'm too demanding but I don't like movies that require you to drop your guard.(mentally, of course) I think the Phantom Menace is a marketer's dream because what might be faults as described by others(Jar Jar Binks) are defended by others. Either way we all see the movie and have a ball ranting and raving about its strengths and weaknesses. Buy the Phantom Menace if you like but realize it lacks what I find to be important in a movie, humanity.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: AverageGuy
Review: I'm just an average guy watching a movie. And this is my opinion: I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED!!!!
The story wasn't interesting (or fulfilling). There was no attachment or connection with any characters. In some cases, they were just annoying: Jar Jar Binks. They should have just cut this guy out completely. The special effects were great but, again, this film relied too much on it. I liked the older FX: animatronics and models. The characters seemed more appealing and believable. I hope they do a better job with the next film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It was okay..
Review: I'm not a Star Wars geek, but I do like sci fi movies.It's a must buy if you are a true Star Wars fan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Success!!!!
Review: I'm not a Starwars fan, I didn't read the books and the comics, I really didn't know that Darth Sidius was Senator Palpatine, but as a movie, I think it's incredible. Nothing much to say, I won't try to convince old Starwars fans who don't like JarJar or Darth Maul, I just say that this is great action, great storytelling and incredible, really incredible music. It's like reviewing the score but the score is half of the movie in this one.
I really loved it and will love it my whole life.


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