Rating: 
Summary: An Underated Movie....
Review: Star Wars Episode I: the Phantom Menace was the most anticipated film of all time. The hype behind it was enormous. The characters of the movie graced everything from action figures to toothpaste bottles to inflatable chairs. So it comes as no surprise that the movie didn't live up to everyone's expectations. Many people complained to no end about it. But, when get past the hype and internet complaints, you have yourself a pretty decent movie. Sure it had some bad parts. Okay, it had some REALLY bad parts. The story wasn't all that fascinating, tha characterization is weak, Darth Vader's an exuberant little kid, And Jar Jar Binks is the most annoying character ever. But the movie is still worthy of the Star Wars title. I can't tell you how many times I was in gasping in awe of the sheer visuals in the film. To me, the good redeems the movie for it's worser parts. As for the legions of fans who hated this movie, I think they were expecting it to be like the first time theysaw Star Wars. News flash for you folks: it's a slim chance that you'll ever have that experience again in your life. Only the true fans can appreciate the film for what it is.
And the geeks who spend all their time on the internet and complain about Jar Jar Binks? They need to get a life.
Rating:
Summary: Like good alcoholic beverages, it improves with age...
Review: I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't too impressed with The Phantom Menace upon first release. The plot seemed to have no relation to Episodes IV-VI, Jar Jar was annoying, and Obi-Wan didn't look or sound like, well, Obi-Wan.Well, Episode II changed most of that. Looking back at The Phantom Menace, it truely is not that different from Episodes IV-VI. Sure, the technology is better, and the budget is bigger, but it's in the same vein as IV-VI. This DVD has set a high bar for the five following it to reach. The video and sound quality is excellent. The extras are par none. The commentaries provide interesting information, unlike many others. And the deleted scenes allow us to see what the Special Edition of Episode I will probably look like if Lucas is alive in 2019. I only have one minor complaint: there were some other deleted scenes, even very small trims that would have required little/no effort to finish, that were left out, one of which (the "swamp + active lightsaber = dead lightsaber" snippet) is needed to make the Obi-Wan-chased-by-STAPs scene make sense. All in all, definately worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best, but not a total bomb.
Review: As to the film, I think it speaks for itself. Lucas has always been a groundbreaker in special effects. "Star Wars IV: A New Hope" set the tone for a decade, and "Episode I" will do a similar thing. Just look at all the mirror movies, such as A.I., or even "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" which was entirely computerized. We know the story, and we know the flaws in the story. I admit there is too much Jar-jar, but he is not the only character, or the only flaw in the film. Overall, it is a good film that harkens back to the majestic epics of the 1950's that dazzled one young boy from modest Modesto California. By the way, I have a lot of family in Stanislaus County, so I quite familiar with this town. "American Graffiti" is quite accurate-all they could do there have car or pod races. In my humble opinion two films, aside from Episodes IV-VI, are "Ben-Hur" and "American Graffiti." "Ben-Hur" is the epics of epics that have influenced so many parodies on The Simpsons. But it captures the majesty and magic that Hollywood once was. Lucas, along with Spielberg, has brought back the glory days of the Golden Age of Hollywood. "The Phantom Menace" is an attempt to bring the epic sweep to the sci-fi genre. Asimov in "Foundation," and Herbert in "Dune" captured the essence of epic in print, but Lucas was the first to bring this majesty (I apologize for repeating this word, but it is the only one that fits) to science fiction films. Before him, we just had "2001," although "Planet of the Apes" tried. The second film was the aforementioned "American Graffiti," which was Lucas's second film, and which paid for "Star Wars." In my opinion, it is one of the funniest movies ever made. There is not a lot of humor in Star Wars, but Lucas's working with Spielberg on the Indian Jones movies brought his forgotten talent to the surface. That is why Jar-jar seems so out of place: the Star Wars films have been 98% serious, and when we have a comic relief Caliban (see "The Tempest" by Shakespeare), we don't know what to do. "The Phantom Edit" took care of this problem. I saw two problems with the film, both script problems. The first is that Qui-Gon Jinn was not a consistent character. During the first part of the movie, he is concerned about being patient, and then on a dime, he gets concerned about time and getting off of Tatooine. The second problem is that Darth Maul didn't get the screen time he deserved. We have a thoroughly hideous character, and intense fighter to boot, but we only see him in action twice. If Lucas had him pick off Jedi Knights or members of the council along the lines of a mass murderer, he would have been far more sinister. Something along the lines of "The Pelican Brief" or "Hannibal," but with the elegance of swordplay would have been better. The DVD is perfection. These discs show what DVD's were meant to be! Disc Two is great. It has seven deleted scenes that can be seen alone, in a group, or with a surrounding commentary to explain why they were removed. There is an hour-long documentary on making the film, the commercials and theater trailers, plus the music video to "Dual of the Fates." There are several featurettes and clips that explain the different aspects of the making of the film. Apparently Lucas had a camera filming him as he was working from Day One on November 1, 1994 when he began writing the script. You even see the binder in which he wrote "American Graffiti," and the "Star Wars" movies. There disc also works on your computer's DVD player where you can accesses more goodies on starwars.com. The easter-eggs include a blooper reel: got to the THX logo on disc one, and type in "1138," and the other one is on the delete scenes menu. The film is not one of Lucas's best, but it is not as bad as people made it out to be. Hopefully the rough edges will be filed down in Episode II.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been better, could have been worse
Review: As a piece of the Star Wars franchise, this movie is disappointing. The effects were excellent, but plotwise... It was good to see why the jedi had the reputation they had in Episodes 4 - 6, but if they were so smart, why didn't they kill Jar Jar Binks (an amazingly anoying character meant to appeal to the five year olds out there). See it for the battle scenes and the pod race. Don't see it for deep insights into the person who became Darth Vader. And as OB1 said to Darth Maul, "you are the weakest link. Good-bye."
Rating: 
Summary: Just not a good movie
Review: This movie is nothing like the original series. I loved the first three and I was so excited about Star Wars P.M. But it was a real let down. All Star Wars fans should watch this movie but I am pretty sure most will agree with me. It just is a huge dissapointment.
Rating:
Summary: Why are all you so-called Star Wars fans so cruel?
Review: OK, so "The Phantom Menace" was not the best Star Wars movie or even close to it...but you've gotta give Lucas, the cast, and crew tons of credit for the effort. It's not really their fault that the media overhyped this movie and you can't expect them to live up to EVERY SINGLE PERSON's expectations--that would just go way overboard! If you were a true Star Wars fan, you'd love "The Phantom Menace" no matter what. I'm not trying to be an apologic fan, because this is just my personal opinion on living up to the hype. And just because this may not have been the best Star Wars movie ever, doesn't mean that you shouldn't see Episode II. I can assure you all that Episode II will be much different than Episode I. Everyone knows the story of Episode I so I do not have to go into great detail. What I will say though is that the acting by the cast was pretty fair--good acting in some cases, but other cast members faired worse. The special effects were absolutely incredible, and the storyline and dialouge were so-so. They had to make the dialouge kid-friendly because there was a kid starring in the movie...remember, don't expect little Anakin Skywalker to start acting and speaking like an adult! But now onto the DVD. You can't deny that this DVD is definitely one of the best DVDs out there. Hours and hours of special bonus features including interviews, CD-ROM extras, the making of "The Phantom Menace", music videos, teaser trailers, featurettes, behind-the-scenes, the making of the special effects, and a lot more. Plus, the picture quality and sound quality is outstanding! Yes, Jar Jar Binks was annoying...but he will be in Episode II a lot less. I think "The Phantom Menace" was a great addition to the Star Wars saga and I can't wait to see "Attack Of the Clones"...which I'm planning to see opening day. Buy this DVD and go see Episode II when it opens in theaters May 16th! (And don't believe all those so-called, angry fans who said this movie was bad)
Rating:
Summary: The Beginning...
Review: George Lucas's original "Star Wars" trilogy is a brilliant, if incomplete, contribution to the world of film. With the prequel trilogy the story will finally be completed -- as the original trilogy told of the fall of the Empire, here at last is the story of its rising. ... I am immensly pleased with this beginning episode in the miniseries that "Star Wars" really is. It is my hope that someday not only the original half of "Star Wars," but the entire six-part movie, will go down in film history with the word "classic" attached to it. It certianly is one in my mind. Episode I is set a long time ago in the same galexy far, far away as the original three movies, but unlike the originals the galexy we see here is pretty much at peace. Instead of an all-out war, we see the evil Sith making their first subtle moves to bring down the Jedi Order and this said peace with it: The Trade Federation's blockade of the remote planet Naboo allows Senator Palpatine (Darth Siduos) to become Suprime Chancellor and by doing so sets a series of events into motion which will ultumately bring the fall of the Jedi, setting the stage for the original trilogy's story of rebellion and the return of peace, and it will be very interesting to see how exactly the Empire continues to rise in Episodes II and III. Episode I is indeed a very light, nonwar film, focusing instead on the arena of polotics, but the lightness here is needed to contrast the darkness that lies ahead, and I was expecting something of this sort. It is a thrilling, if different, beginning to "Star Wars," and one that I highly reccomend. As for the DVD edition itself - all I can say about it is wow. The film's presentation is flawless, and contains a previously unreleased deleted scene "The Air Taxi Sequence" which was completed and reincuperated into the film just for the DVD release. The audio commentary track is genius, and even the menus are fun. The second disc contains a wealth of bonus materials including more completed deleted sequences, a 66-minute new making-of doccumentary as well as five featurettes focusing on certian aspects of the film and the 12-part web doccumentary series that debuted on starwars.com during the movie's production. Also included are trailers, TV spots, the "Duel of the Fates" music video, footage on the making of the popular videogame "Star Wars: Starfighter," and more. The only better DVD I've seen out there yet is "Snow White" from Disney. This set will go a long way towards making it up to people who unlike me are a bit disappointed in the film. A great film made even better by a great DVD set. If this is any indication of what the original trilogy's DVDs will be like, they too will be amazing. Great job, Lucasfilm!
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, exceptional DVD
Review: I am a fan of the movie so I have tried to rate the DVD on its DVD merits only. I consider the picture and sound quality first class. The extra features are great. Overall I rate this as a very nicely put together DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Only John Woo could be worse
Review: Aside from movies directed by John Woo this is the worst film I've ever seen. It's not like it's any one thing, either. It just falls so completely short of everything that it could be. Jar-Jar, awful cue-card reading by Jake Lloyd, a terribly over-the-top Darth Maul... I don't harbor any ill-will to anyone over this movie, I just wonder what the hell happened since the first trilogy. Oh well, I've still got the original trilogy, pre-special edition, so that's what I'll keep watching. CGI effects just look too much like a cartoon for me to take anything but PIXAR movies seriously. I wish I liked this movie, I really do, but as it stands I'm not even going to bother watching Episode 2 now. Beside, will missing a "performance" by Christopher Lee really be that bad?
Rating:
Summary: An incredible beggining..................................
Review: I love the origninal star wars trilogy, even though now it's been over 20 years since it's came out, especcially for it's time star wars changed the way people looked at movies. I was so exicted about episode 1, when I saw it.....I loved it, but it was quite different than I thought it to be......and so different from the original trilogy. there where downs about this movie, but I still think this movie deserves 5stars*. For anyone who hasn't seen it I won't spoil it for them, but I reccomend this to star wars fans!ps.may16,2002,episode2arrives!
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