Rating: 
Summary: May the DVD Be with You!
Review: First off, let's get a few things about the movie out of the way:
1. The Force. I don't think that they used it enough. If you really watch it, the force is only used a few times in the movie.
2. Medichlorians. The explanation for the way the force works is totally bogus! There should not have been ANY explanation. Nobody WANTED an explanation!
3. Anakin. First of all, Jake Lloyd is a horrible actor. His high, whiny voice was annoying. There was also no evidence that he was going to become this person who is practically evil incarnate. Getting back to Jake's acting though, he didn't really use any real inflection in his voice. He'd say something like "Uh oh, R2, I think we're in trouble" like he was ordering an ice cream cone or something. Also, the part at the end where he accidentally destroys that ship is corny and stupid.
4. Jar Jar.
Those are the major problems I had with this. Everything else, and I really do mean EVERYTHING else was perfect. Except for the lightsaber battles, which were absolutely phenomenal.
So, enough about the movie, everyone's seen it anyway. On to the DVD. Forget T2, forget Die Hard, forget EVERYTHING! Because this is simply the best DVD ever to grace the marketplace. Yes, you may have seen a hundred other reviews for a hundred other movies that flippantly say the same thing, but I'm serious. This is THE BEST DVD ever:
1. Sound and video quality: Come on, this DVD comes from the guy who invented the companies THX and ILM. Is there any doubt that this is going to have the best possible sound and video? Of course not.
2. The Beginning: Making Episode I. This is the best and the truest documentary ever. I say the truest because it isn't the filmmakers being interviewed about the film or anything like that, it is the ACTUAL making of the film. You see all kinds of things that went into the making of the film. Storyboarding, budget meetings, the shooting of scenes, the casting of the role of Anakin, a test screening of the movie with Lucas, McCallum, and a few other people involved in making the film, all the way up to the opening night of the movie. The best part is this documentary isn't biased or promotional, as most other purported DVD "documentaries" are. The documentary is honest and therefore, much more interesting and insightful than we would even have had a right to expect. Anyway, just let me say this: no matter how good you may think this documentary is going to be, it will be better. Oh yeah, and it ends with Lucas beginning the script to Episode II in his "home office", which is cool.
3. Deleted Scenes: These are some of the best and most significant deleted scenes ever to be released on DVD since the Godfather Collection. And yet they even go beyond THAT, and add an entire half hour documentary that is specifically about the deleted scenes. Amazon has already listed what the scenes are if you look above, so I won't list them again. But, they are relevant to the movie, not just thrown in to make the DVD look good. And the accompanying documentary (telling you why directors cut scenes, and how the editing process works) is interesting also.
4. Web Documentaries: If you are a big Star Wars fan, then you would have seen these already, but even so, I'm sure you'll be glad that they are included. For those who haven't seen them, they are 12 mini-documentaries that each focus on a different aspect of the movie making process. They are each just about 5 minutes long or something like that (it may be longer, I don't remember exactly), so they add over an hour more of how Episode I got made. Any fan will find these interesting.
5. Featurettes: These are five little features which discuss even more about the making of this film. They cover the costumes, the fight scenes, the story, design, and special effects. These I'm pretty sure are all just under 10 minutes, so they add a little over half an hour of behind the scenes info. There is also about a 4 minute featurette about the making of the Star Wars: Starfighter video game, which is really more of a commercial, but still worth viewing.
6. Animatics: If you are like me, you looked at the extras on this DVD, and said to yourself "What the hell are animatics?" Well, I'll tell you. Basically, it shows you how two scenes were created; from storyboard to final cut. The two scenes are the Pod Race and the Submarine sequences. Also included is a 10 minute introduction to these scenes in which the whole production process is explained. In this section of the DVD, you will also find the print advertisements for the movie, including posters and other things. Not the best part of the DVD, but interesting to go through once or twice.
7. Trailers: The trailers, teasers, and TV spots are really cool in my opinion. I know that they are on every DVD, and really aren't anything that special, but I love to watch these things. In this section of the DVD you will also find the "music video" of the Duel of the Fates. This is an extremely cool extra. Trust me, you'll love it.
8. Commentary: Again, I know that you have read this in many other reviews for other movies, but this is the best DVD commentary ever. It stays focused on the scenes in the movie, and doesn't go wandering about into other things that no one is even interested in hearing about. Trust me, this is one of the few commentaries that is not only worth listening to, but worth listening to MULTIPLE times.
Rating: 
Summary: Disapointment
Review: This movie was [poor], big disapointment from the other 4. The DVD seems to be good though, I don't know, haven't seen on dvd! I don't plan too, because this movie blowed!! Looked like your in a game, and Mr. Lucas even admitted himself that this movie was made for the children!! Too bad, I think it was Jar Jar who ruined this movie, for the most part, it's too bad!! Hopefully the 3rd will be more like the 2nd one than the 1st, cause this one wasn't good at all! Especially all those dumb looking aircrafts, looked like they were made of really cheap wood or metal. Dumb movie, the rest of STar Wars is great so, skip this one and watch the rest!!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD, if anything else...
Review: Personally, I loved the movie, but I know most people didn't, so I'll review why you SHOULD buy this DVD.The best feature is a documentary about how they made the film. It is over an hour long, and is well worth the price of the dvd...just that one feature. There are many other documentaries (4 that run around 8 minutes each), which are very interesting to watch. Those who hate the movie -- watch it one or two times on the DVD. You will begin to realize that Jar Jar Binks really isn't in the movie that much. You will warm u pto it, and end up loving the movie. Buy this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD as a DVD
Review: As others have pointed out, the DVD itself is spectacular. The menus are animated with movie sequences, it's loaded with extras that are actually interesting (though a lot of them were taken from the starwars.com website). The transfer is beautiful, the sound is the kind that makes you want to run out to your local stereo store with someone else's credit card.
As for the movie itself... what needs to be said? It has some serious flaws, but I have to say that the first few minutes had me feeling like a seven year old again, watching with awe. Then Jar-Jar showed up and the awe vanished.
Rating: 
Summary: avoid it at all costs
Review: the dvd has lots of good extras, but the movie itself is not good. I give it one star because too many people gave 5 stars, which is totally absurd.
Rating: 
Summary: True to its advertising tagline
Review: "Every saga has a beginning" The beginning of most movies is dull since it has to set up character relationships, and with the way each trilogy ends up being like one long movie it isn't surprising that this could have been better as far as being a self-contained movie, but it was truthful to its tagline, and despite some logic and plotflow problems certainly had me hooked for its entire duration in the theater.
Rating:
Summary: excellent picture, very good sound
Review: Im just going to rate the dvd, not the movie. The picture quality was very good on my big sony crt using the component connections, the sound was also very good, making use of all surround speakers. The pod race scene was especially thrilling. Of course the sound could have been just slightly better in terms of surround speaker usage. This is one of the top dvds i have, more should be made this way. some are dolby digital and dts encoded, yet I might hear only 1 sound effect coming from the surrounds.. Overall a fantastic home theater dvd.
Rating:
Summary: Please remember to recycle
Review: There isn't enough bad things to say about this movie. It's a "comic" without the "relief" in it. Because this movie is nothing but a comic horror, and a boring one at that. Thank God for Star Wars: Clone Wars, because this pile of junk wasn't the force worthy. Horrible acting, horrible plot, horrible computer graphics, horrible!
Rating: 
Summary: May the Farce be with you...
Review: I was really rooting for George and Co. in anticipation of this long-awaited prequel, but like many Star Wars fans I found the dreadfully-titled Phantom Menace to be little more than a sophisticated children's movie. This problem is partly due to the age of the protagonist, although not enough effort was made to maintain the adult interest factor. The original Star Wars trilogy was intelligently written, brilliantly cast, produced and directed, and hardcore enough to appeal to anybody of any age. Yet in spite of a good cast, which includes such giants as Sam Jackson and Liam Neeson, Phantom Menace (what a ghastly Fifties pulp title) cannot hold a candle to the original movies. This quality DVD is worth having for the sake of completeness, especially in view of the fact that Episode 2, the almost as weakly titled Attack Of The Clones, appears to be far more like the original Star Wars. More combat, more edge and more maturity. I wish I could be more postive about this, but there was more Menace in the Mel Brooks spoof.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than the critics say it was
Review: I remember walking out of the theater 3 years ago after having seen this and thinking "That was a damned good movie, I sure got my money's worth!" Well, didn't take long to find out not everyone shared my sentiments. I guess it was to be expected. After all the hype and the waiting, the fans wanted nothing less than for George Lucas to smash a grand slam homer right out of the park, so when instead he hit a solid triple, a lot of people felt cheated and let down, and so they focused on what they didn't get more than on what was delivered. Which is a shame. Phantom Menace is a fine film in its own rights. In part, some of the complaints were because it was different from the others. Most notably, the comradeship of familiar characters was missing, the interplay between the heroes, heroines and sidekicks as they grew to trust each other and deal with their various character traits as they bounced from one close call to the next. There was no romance to speak of (unlike the great Han Solo/Princess Leia exchanges) nor was there much humor (as in the interplay between Chewbacca and the two 'droids) and of course the central character is one we all know will soon transform into the evil villain of the first trilogy. In short, it simply doesn't have a lot of the key elements that everyone loved from the earlier films. But so what? Like I said, this one is different, and should be judged on its own merits. What is good about this film? For starters, the awesome effects. Let's face it, that's what MADE the Star Wars franchise, lose them, and you've got just a pretty decent space fairy tale. There's some really cool concepts, too, I especially liked the various types of Battle Droids, and would not be surprised to see this idea become reality in our own military some time in the near future. Also, you've got a deeper, darker, more serious mood. There's not too much in the way of yuks and joking around because anyone with vision can see that this particular Galaxy is headed for serious trouble. There's Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala, who, IMHO, is an even better female lead than Carrie Fisher. She's got the same strength of character, only in a different guise. Instead of a feisty, resourceful rebel Princess, she, despite being only 18 or so, leads with great dignity and poise. Darth Maul is another great character, the only downside is he wasn't given more screen time. Young Annakin Skywalker comes off just as we'd expect, he's a slave, but clearly destined to move on to much bigger things. We are left wondering just how it is this budding Jedi ends up making the choice to side with evil, not to mention how he will interact with his future wife and son. We are left hanging deliciously, wondering just what Episode Two will serve up. As for the bad, well, basically it can be summed up in three words - Jar Jar Binks. Rarely has a more annoying and useless character been given so much screen time in a major movie. He's funny ..... for maybe a minute or two. Then he should have been given the boot. Yet he seems to be onscreen almost as much as Luke in the original! What on Earth for? He brings nothing to the film to justify being so prominent. Further, he turns an otherwise really cool final battle scene into a 3 Stooges style comic farce in which he blunders about the battlefield taking out the enemy through sheer incompetence and dumb luck (maybe I should change the comic reference to Gomer Pyle). Anyway, if ever this film is subject to digital editing, Jar Jar should be "erased" from every scene where it is practical to do so. On a more minor note, I was less impressed than most by the Pod Race. Sure, it was cool but so is an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo. And both are more a case of artistic showing off than anything else. The Pod Race was special effects for its own sake, and didn't really add anything of importance to the movie. But, other than that, this was definitely a far better than average film. It's just too bad that didn't live up to public expectations that were, quite honestly, so high as to be nearly impossible for mere mortal man to achieve.
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