Rating: 
Summary: This ISN'T the original Star Wars...
Review: Okay, I grew up on "A New Hope", saw it 9 times in the movie theatre when I was 5, and of course saw the special edition premiere night in New York. But I'm also objective.. the acting in Episode 4 is just as bad, the dialogue is just as cheesey, as anything in Episode I is. What did it for us in 1977 was the saga, the special effects, and the subtle humor that was inherent in the film.In Episode I, Lucas does include the same elements, as well as a very similar plot line, as the original Star Wars was. The special effects were dazzeling, the action was fast, and there was a deeper dimention of political intrigue not present in the original trilogy. Also, unlike the original trilogy, in which 3 no-name actors, rough around the edges, churned cheesey dialogue, in episode I we have two seasoned actors, Liam Neesen and Ewan McGregor (with a brief appearance of Samuel L. Jackson - whom I look forward to seeing more of in Episodes 2 & 3), who hold their own. Remember how much better the acting seemed in Empire Strikes Back and Jedi? Do not go in expecting the original Star Wars. If you do, you will be disappointed... the raw quality of a new kind of technology and "space saga" is not there. But it is a spectacular event nonetheless, and i recommend it heartily. By The way... buy the widescreen edition.. from what I understand it was duplicated in better quality than the regular VHS.
Rating:
Summary: Action and Fun
Review: This movie is really wonderful. It is filled with adventure and fun. So where exactly is the problem? I think the reason people were disappointed is that they expected too much. I went in to see a fun movie and that is exactly what I got - this isn't cinematic genius folks, but does it have to be?
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not star wars
Review: Ok, people are looking at it the wrong way. The original star wars was an incredible movie, in fact its one of my favorites. That is why Star Wars Edpisode 1 gets a bad reviews. Suppose star wars had never previously existed and this was the first ever star wars movie to be produced. People would actually find it to be a very unique genre of movie. Its sort of a scifi/fantasy movie. People would like it. In conclusion i will say that Star Wars Episode 1 is not starwars, it doesn't deliver "the star wars feel" like the other origonal movies did. Hopefully the other 2 movies will be better.
Rating:
Summary: Q: What can I say?
Review: A: A few things. 1st- I have never seen a movie on DVD, I own one but it's not attatched to a t.v. in my house(I don't know why). So I could care less about the debate between the two. 2nd- On the movie cover for the VHS it is stated that episode one is set only 30 years before the later three. How in the world can this be! In Star Wars(4) Obi-Wan has to be at least 60-75. In E1 he is at most 20-25, if not younger. In retrospect so is Anakin; we all saw him at the very end of the sixth movie, and he was old. Who ever wrote this jacket must have over-looked the original movies. 3rd- Jar-Jar Binks is not as annoying as people think. I'm 19 and I found him entertaining. His whole race added color to an otherwise totally human movie. Look at the other three, there were tons of different species, but in this movie 90% of the characters are human only. Take out Jar-Jar's species and you have a boring outer-space movie with nothing but humans. 4th- Natalie Portman played a rather exceptional role as the young queen. As the Queen she appeared cold and heartless (except towards her peeople), which is how queens act. As Palame she played a loveable teenager. I know alot of teenage girls who act just like her; she played a very good part. I guess it helps that she is 18. Jake Lloyd played a rather convincing 9 year old, seeing how he is one(I mean, were you people ever kids!). I can recall fonder and happier days when I would yell "yippie! " at the top of my lungs when happy or excited about something. 5th- At the end of the movie Palpatine makes reference to Anakin's abbilities. He says that they will be watching him in the future. Does this mean that the Dark Emperor already has plans to make Anakin his next Sith? 6th- The special effects were good..ok extremely good. 7th- I "loved" the new idea that a light-saber can be stuck into a blast door, and also melt it. I guess the batteries were running low in the later three movies. I mean, we never saw that much power from the light-sabers in the forth, fifth, and sixth movies. Great idea Lucas, but in a galaxy far, far away...didn't they have rechargeable batteries. Take for example that Obi-Wan took up Qai-Gon's saber after he died, and then in Star Wars(4) Luke gains access to this same light-saber. Well, ole Obi-Wan should of at least told Luke, "It's not as powerful as it used to be", or something. About all said saber cut through later was Vador's wrist! I'll bet Darth Vador had this same problem..seeing as how they were the only ones to use l-bs, and they had to be from the same time period. 8th- Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menance was the best movie I saw in 1999, and I didn't have to wait but 5 mintues to get tickets! This was on the second day it came out. 9th- It's a good movie. Don't read these reviews. Just watch it for yourself...and then come here and write a review for yourself. 10th- I would actually give this movie 4 and 1/2 stars, but it wasn't there. The acting was excellent, the graphics were out of this world, and the new characters are just ansestors of our favs from the later 70's and early 80's. I say we all sit back and enjoy the ride to come. After all..we do know what happens in the end. Now we're just learing the details that lead up to that end. I can't help it: May The Force Be With YOU!
Rating:
Summary: May the force be with you!
Review: This is one of the best Star Wars movies that I have seen. I enjoyed the fast paced pod race, the battle between the Gungans and the Trade Federation, and especially the laser sword fight between Obi Wan, Qui Gonn, and Darth Maul. They actually used some martial arts moves in the fight scene. I think it would have been more appropriate if a man had taken out the Starship instead of Anakin Skywalker. Never let a boy do a mans job. If you want to look at a movie with ugly creatures then this one is for you. The creatures on the Phantom Menace will make the creatures on Star Trek look beautiful. Jar Jar Binks is a very silly creature and compared to the others he actually looks better. Overall it is a very good movie and it is even worth buying.
Rating: 
Summary: A very BIG heart-breaking disappointment
Review: What Lucas has done here is taken many many MANY years of excited anticipation that I've been building since the first whispers of more Star Wars movies were first heard back in the late eighties and squashed it all flat with very poor dialogue, poor acting/lack of good matieral to work with, transparent plot points, and alien races that practically make fun of various ethnic groups. As a very long time faithful fan of the Star Wars series and having seen all the original movies on the widescreen when they first came out, I was utterly disappointed with The Phantom Menace. While I was severely crushed because I missed seeing this on the big screen, fifteen minutes into this video made me realize that I really wasn't missing much other than being able to read the prologue properly as it scrolled up the screen and the pod race scene in all its widescreen glory. My list of grievances is too long to properly list them all here. But I would just like to point out that Jar Jar Binks was an unnecessary sidekick--he was unintelligible most of the time and the excrement and flatulance jokes were in poor taste and made the movie much less sophisticated than it could have been. Anakin was poorly played by a cute boy who needs more acting training, Darth Maul's coolness was wasted, the beginnings of any relationship between Anakin and Amidala were quite poorly placed here and there, and Lucas' poor attempts at being clever with several plot points only made the movie seem amatuerish and silly. The dialogue in many many many scenes were poorly written and painful to hear. McGregor and Portman's talents were much wasted here and I was disappointed by how two-dimensional their characters were. The various aliens that populated the movie were nothing compared with the complex alien races that are portrayed in the Star Trek series. There were too many obvious elements of our own ethnic groups present in these beings to make them properly "alien" to me and I found this to be insulting in many ways. Lucas may be aiming at a younger audience here, one which has not grown up with the original series, which may explain many of the juvenile jokes and juvenile dialogue--but I think I speak for many older fans who have been enamoured of the series for the past 20+ years when I say that this movie disappointed in a seriously crushing way. Perhaps Lucas needs to relinquish some creative control over the movies and allow someone to step in who can HELP the next two movies. The only reason this movie has received even 1 star from me is because of the beautiful architecture and scenery in the Naboo scenes, the pod race (minus the insultingly non-hilarious announcers) and I happen to be a big fan of McGregor and Portman. Otherwise, this film deserves a half star at most--and this only because it is a Star Wars movie. Without the Star Wars label and hype, this movie would be a below-average installment in another long-running fantasy epic.
Rating:
Summary: It's just not a good movie
Review: I have watched this movie 2 and a half times (couldnt make it throught the 3rd time), and as much as I loved Star Wars, the sadfact is that this is a bad movie. Why? 1.) Bad acting: especially the kid who plays Annakin. He expresses no emotion and most of the time it sounds like he's reading off cue cards. The other actors were equally as bad, with the exception of Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor who did a fine job. 2.) Jar Jar. Annoying. I'll say no more. 3.)Too much digital animation. I agree with a previous review, what happened to honest to god costumes and actors? The animated characters look fake. Its looks a little better on video than in the theater, but not much. 4.) Bad VHS transfer. Refusing to pay 30 for the widescreen vhs tape, i purchased the pan and scan version. This is the worst pan and scan job ever done. sometimes the camera is focused on blank space between the action. Instead of focusing on one character, they chose to do a half of two characters. If youve seen it then you know what i mean. The tape quality looked like something expected from a bootleg or homemade VHS copy made on SLP. Bad stuff, honestly. Very dull picture quality, thogh admittedly the sound wasnt that bad. 5.) A little confusing. Does the average person really know what a Sith Lord is? Too much politics also, not enought fun like the orginals. 6.) Boring, unimaginative plot. I was watching my VCR, counting down the minutes until it ended. Thats not how Star Wars should be watched. Time was never a factor in the originals. Those seemed like they werent long ENOUGH! So : All in all, very dissapointing. Seemed like a 2 hour commercial for video games and action figures. If you havent seen this film yet, dont taint your memory of this series by watching this film. Let your imagination decide the events leading up to the trilogy, you'll be better off. What a letdown.
Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: I loved it in the theater, saw it more than once. I got the tape in UPS Friday, waited all day so I could have Saturday evening alone to watch it. The picture quality was worse than awful. The MOV file on the preview that they posted on the internet had a superior picture than this turkey. It ruined the movie for me and I did not even finish it. I gave the tape away to a neighbors kid.
Rating: 
Summary: Star Wars - episode 1
Review: I saw Phantom Menace in the theater shortly after it came out and then saw it again on VHS. The second time around got no better. This movie could have been ten times better. The plot was a convoluted mess of political garbage. The storyline should have focused more on characters with the political scene happening in the background. That was the secret behing the first three movies. There was focus on the characters. ...Long live the force.
Rating:
Summary: The Phantom Yawn
Review: The star is for the special effects. While I wasn't expecting the exact same excitement of the original movies, I was hoping for some. The plot is extremely drug out. I tried to watch this movie 4 times, and fell asleep each time. (The first time was in the theatre.) Major disappointment that I will keep next to my Tylenol PM.
| 
