Rating: 
Summary: It hurts to give it this rating.
Review: I find myself constantly defending this movie to others, except Jar-Jar of course. And as a lifetime Star Wars fan, somebody who grew up on Star Wars, it is very hard for me to bash this film ...... but I will. I loved the final lightsaber battle, it really saved the movie in my opinion. And the pod racing scene was great. But the whole Gungan thing was a complete waste of time.
The similarities between this film (the 1st of 6) to possibly the weakest of the original 3 (Return of the Jedi, 6 of 6) are almost unbelievable. The final climactic scenes include a jedi battle, a land battle between an alien race created for children (Gungans/Ewoks), and a space battle. So you'd think Lucas would learn from his mistakes. Apparently not.
A lot of people have had a problem with the technology factor as well. For going so far into the past, the technology really appears to be better. Probably a side affect of the improved special effects.
I'd just like to add "what ever happened to actors playing parts, and not EVERY character on the screen being a digital creation? If this keeps up, whats the point of even making a movie with actors? ...
Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointing!!!
Review: I first heard the rumor about the Star Wars movies coming out on DVD about a week ago, and I got exited. That was until I saw only Episode I was coming out. What a dissapointment. The original films don't have a release date whatsoever. Whatever your feelings are towards Episode I, it should have come out the seme date as the originals.
Rating: 
Summary: Acomplishes its objective, and then some.
Review: I first saw Phantom Menace about two weeks after it hit the box office. I had already heard all of the negative criticism. Time Magazine defamed the film as a "Big Disappointment": Targeting, especially, the young, untalented Anakin Skywalker for his poor delivery, and (I quote) "Plain old bad acting". It is a film that finnatics desperately wanted to take seriously. It was possibly the most anticipated feature of our time. I ask you, "What film could measure up to that kind of hype?" I admit, the movie wasn't perfect, but after walking out of that theatre, I remember wondering what the hell those critics had been talking about. Phantom Menace engages viewrs head on, from the opening scene, right up until the ominous, forbrooding, ending. It maintains a delicate equipoise of fantastical, thought provolking Political interactions, and over the top high speed action. Liam Niesson, and Ewan McGregor play convincing off eachother, in their respective roles, as Jedi master and apprentice. As a devout fan of the original trilogy, I was not disappointed at all. Ok, that said, I will agree that this movie went overboard with some irratating instances of comic relief. Jar-Jar Binks deserves every negative bit of criticism he got. But even more annoying, was the unessecary incorpoartion of old characters into the story. What was the point of having C3PO, and R2D2 in the film? They had no consequence to the plot. They fell exasperingly short of funny, and the film was already annoying enough with Jar-Jar. The actor who played young Anakin really was cheesey, and totally ruined certain, potentially powerful scenes. Natalie Portman's coherced monotone also gets pretty darn annoying after 2 hours. But, I am a fair critic. The faults were not overwhelming enough to warrant all the negative criticism, generated by obsessed fans. I didn't want the film to end. Maybe its because I entered Phantom Menace with some very low expectations, but I left being very pleasantly surprised. It acoplished its obejective: To set the stage.
Rating:
Summary: Jar-Jar Binks rules
Review: I first saw this movie on my tv. My first reaction was : what ?, why so much fuss about nothing ? The special-effects are very weak, you can see tranparencies on the screen ! The best actor in the movie is Jar-Jar, he could earn an oscar. There is no plot, the movie is dull and i fall asleep 30 minutes after the beginning. The movie looks like very old.
Rating: 
Summary: LAST MINUTE TICKET...
Review: I FOR ONE AM VERY PLEASE WITH EP.I. I GOT TO GO SEE IT WITH A FRIEND WHO GAVE ME AN OPENING DAY TICKET, GOT THE BEST SEAT IN THE THEATRE, AND ENJOYED EVERY SECOND OF THE MOVIE! IF YOU'RE A REAL STAR WARS FAN, YOU'LL REALIZE THAT LUCAS WAS JUST SETTING THE STAGE FOR WHAT WE KNOW AS THE GREATEST TRILOGY OF ALL TIME. WE GET TO SEE HOW EVERYTHING STARTED, & GET BETTER IDEAS OF HOW IT'S GOING TO BE FOR THE NEXT 2 FILMS. JUST HOPE THERE ARE MORE JEDI BATTLES IN THE FILMS TO COME.
Rating:
Summary: Episode I on DVD
Review: I for one think that Star Wars Episode I was a good film overall. A lot of people were expecting the second coming when this film was being made, and when that impossibility didn't materialize, hated the film. I think the film serves as a good introduction to the epic of Star Wars. The acting can be uneven (but it was in the original film), and the story is a bit slow to move - but it sets the stage for the grander story very well. The DVD edition is excellent - the commentary is interesting - and even the deleted scenes are presented in anamorphically enhanced widescreen. Spread over 2 discs are enough features (documentaries, trailers, etc) to keep anyone busy for hours on end. An excellent edition that sets the standard for future Star Wars episodes on DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: A boring mess
Review: I for one was very dissapointed with this first in the prequel trilogy in the Star Wars saga. To me, "Phantom Menace" is just a mess of bad script writing, weak acting by the cast, and just mediocre dialog. The storyline was weak and sadly, "Phantom Menace" damaged my faith in the Star Wars prequel trilogy until "Attack Of The Clones" came along. The Pod Race scene though in my opinion was extremely awesome and saved "Phantom Menace" from hitting the bottom of the garbage can. Still though, overall, "Phantom Menace" in my opinion, adds nothing to the legendary Star Wars saga. Things though got back on track with the vastly superior "Attack Of The Clones".
Rating:
Summary: Thank you, George Lucas
Review: I found Episode I to be true to the tradition established in the first trilogy. Most critics didn't understand when reviewing this that Star Wars is space FANTASY, not true science fiction; it is not supposed to be hip, self-conscious, or noirish. The story glides along at a fairly relaxing pace--although there are still good action sequences, I was more entranced by the stunning artistic visions of new planets, creatures, costumes, etc. As eye candy with an undercurrent of political intrigue, the film is near-perfect. And of course John Williams' music is excellent. Small complaints: Trade Federation creatures should have their own language, not an East Asian accent, and the boy who plays Anakin was not the best choice.
Rating:
Summary: Episode I could have been so much better.
Review: I found that Episode I lacked a good plot and catered more to a 6-year-old rather than an adult, which is why I hesitate to recommend the movie to anyone else. However, because I am an avid Star Wars fan, I have to admit that I did enjoy watching the movie for the first time. I know one of the fatal flaws of the movie has been repeatedly stated by other reviewers, but it can't be said enough: the digital character, Jar Jar Binks, was horrible. In short, Jar Jar looked fake, was annoying, and was too cartoonish. Although the digital effects that were used for the 'Pod race' and space battles were impressive, it did not work well for Jar Jar. A puppet, like Yoda, would have been better as it looks more real. Furthermore, Jar Jar was quite annoying: he was hard to understand and contributed nothing to the plot. I realize that George Lucas wanted Jar Jar to be a comic relief character; Lucas had much better success with C-3PO and R2-D2 in the original Star Wars movie. The whole movie, Jar Jar included, seemed childish. The images and dialogue reminded me of a Saturday morning cartoon. The attempt at humor was puerile. Watching the clumsy Jar Jar trip over himself was not funny. I believe that Lucas's vision for this movie was to focus on the child (Anakin) leaving his mother to begin an epic journey. A better theme would have been to focus on discipleship. The relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon had no substance. Instead, they appear on-screen as robots with no history together. In addition to focusing on the discipleship of Obi-Wan to Qui-Gon--this could have been contrasted to the relationship between the discipleship of Darth Maul to Darth Sidious (Maul and Sidious are both villains in the movie while Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are the good guys). In the end, however, for the die hard Star Wars fans out there, I have to recommend this movie. If for no other reason, because 2 years is a long time to wait before we see Episode II.
Rating:
Summary: Plenty of action
Review: I found that this movie had all the action that one would come to expect of a Star Wars movie.Character developement was not bad either.The only character I had a problem with was that of Anakin-played by Jake Lloyd. I found this character to be quite annoying at times. I could not tell if it was Jake Lloyd's inability to act or if it was an incredibly bad script for him.Overall the movie is very entertaining and children will love it.
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