Rating: 
Summary: Perfect Box Set Gift
Review: For all those Star Wars fans...this is the perfect gift. I got this for my daughter (who loves JarJar) and it's well worth the price! Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY WORTH THE WAIT...
Review: For any fan who grew up on the original Star Wars (it was the very first movie I ever went to see in the theater), don't be looking for the special effects that made the first a technological breakthrough. Though the special effects in this movie are mind-blowing, they're not the first of their kind. And don't believe all of the criticism you hear of Jar-Jar Binks. He was a great comical relief, and just a basically funny creature -- you can't help but fall in love; the Queen is a strong and intelligent young woman -- just the kind you want as a role model for your daughter; and Anakin is smart and witty, taking in his situation with a wonderful sense of humor. You meet Obi-Wan before he becomes "Ben", and find where he gets all of his wisdom from in the form of Qui-Gon Jinn. This has got to be the best Sci-Fi picture ever made since ROTJ. But when you see it, don't compare it to the original. George Lucas himself said that those seeing this movie as the end-all, be-all are going to be sadly disappointed. See it for the sheer entertainment that it's meant to be. You definitely won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Two Words - Star Wars
Review: For anyone who grew up watching the trilogy over and over and over....the movie starts, the theme comes on, and the text with the story scrolls in, then you hear ta na na, na, na na na, na, da na na. You get an almost euphoric feeling, OHHHH YESS, STAR WARS.
Rating: 
Summary: They blew it
Review: For anyone who has seen the other star wars movies, this movie was a huge disappointment. It felt more like a made for tv movie than the most anticipated Movie ever. I lost a lot of respect for George Lucas for using [poor] computer generated special effects instead of using miniatures as they had done in the past. He probably saw 'the matrix' and said, yea I can do that. But he could not. The plot was thin, the characters not even close to being engaging. Darth Maul (only exciting character) did not have enough presence to be anything close to Darth Vader. George please let someone else direct the next episodes. Don't let your ego destroy this legacy.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic movie
Review: For everyone saying this movie is a lame boring piece of junk. I say to them lighten up! It is only a movie after all, yet a very good movie. If anyone out there has never seen this movie I suggest to you to view it as soon as possible. Nearly everything is perfect. Jar Jar Binks is not a total dope like some say.
Rating:
Summary: I have thought with I appreciation on the that one film
Review: For of you the which an express bank of the film the passage of the activity tried, lighting up on the other hand the new name. If however that, which is tried, a film with the model, which means is, which are acceptable in the acceptable newspaper, any impressive and stimuli of the scenes of the fight terrorize, it seems one, or the other one of future, this is reliably the film for they. Not between this film, which this the fact that thinks, each question, which you have, into total-small cleaned, because surprised one in stocks will be in the warehouse, it occurs above not recovered. However it goes to film without way, stopping for it sees this linkage on the means, almost large. That flour rope is marvelous and small Jake Loyd is not defective, since something she caused as thought. The special effects, which go, stunned. Who would the film without large tape of the disturbance be? No necessity for the miracle here, because this is largely. It had a problem with this film, JarJar. In the time, time I to determine to worrisome found, but given the rest worthiness of this film, was simple to obtain over my difficulty with JarJar. On all function that this film a job fine for the remainder of this saga the continuation has installs left. To the extremity, that of a desire leave to know and following impatience the more for system. If you saw three first, since I had formed 20yrs.ago over this begun at the soft age of 4 and in this continuous lighting installation with the years, it lacks to this film without way -- this text forms for reference the output of the tape of VHS
Rating: 
Summary: What horrible addition to Star Wars.
Review: For sci-fi alone, TPM can stand out. But as far as Star Wars goes...? No way. You don't get enought time to get to know the characters, and just when you DO start to understand them, the movie picks up another trail and leaves that character or scene behind! Truly, this was not a good addition to the Star Wars movies. Want to see a good one? Stick with the original trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: This DVD gives new meaning to "jam packed"!
Review: For so long, many Star Wars fans have wondered when a DVD version of any of the Star Wars episodes would be available for sale to the public. There have been rumors that no DVD release would be made for "Star Wars" until the next two episodes are completed. Of course, this angered many Star Wars fans. But when the word came out months ago that a release was in the works, one could not imagine that the "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" DVD would be setting a standard for DVD's in jamming what they could on two DVD's and giving fans more than what they have expected. First, let's talk about the movie. The movie is provided via anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ration of 2:35:1. The movie looks beautiful and the audio utilizes English Dolby 5.1 Surround EX. Did I say the movie looks beautiful? Now, the second DVD. I don't know how long it will take me to finally view the complete DVD because it's jam packed with featurette's, deleted scenes, documentaries and much more. One thing is that there are some deleted scenes I wish they added in the movie such as one deleted scene featuring the green bad guy known as Greedo (who was in the fourth Star Wars episode/first movie) and the Web documentaries galore which include the "Bad Droid Karma" which features the difficulties of making R2D2 work. If there was one nitpicky feeling that I had for this DVD was that it didn't feature the movie in DTS. I'm wondering if we are going to see a "multiple version" like the videos of the Star Wars series was released to the market. But I'm still pleased with the Dolby 5.1 Surround EX. Although not my favorite "Star Wars" in the series, the DVD is just plain awesome and I'm just hoping if they release the other episodes on DVD, that the others can measure up to this one.
An amazing DVD giving new meaning to "jam packed" when it comes to special features.
Rating: 
Summary: Confusing but captivating
Review: For some reason, I received this DVD several days before the issue date, so when the weekend TV promotions for it claimed that it would set "the new standard for DVDs," I was qualified to nod my head in total agreement. In fact, nothing in my DVD collection matches the quality of this superb product. It is a great transfer in every respect, and the extras are mind boggling. Unlike most people who will buy this DVD, my viewing of it was also my first viewing of "Star Wars I - The Phantom Menace," because I never caught it when it was in the theaters. I had read and heard all the negative reports, though, countered by some enthusiasm from diehard Star Wars fans, so my expectations weren't very high as to the story. My expectations as regards the visuals were very high, though, because of trailers that I had downloaded from the Net, and this DVD did not disappoint me. I'm sure that seeing this movie on the big screen would be much better. It always is. But even on my 17" Sony computer monitor (set for anamorphic, full resolution) the visuals are lavish and astonishing. The pod race and the climactic battleground scene look so real ... well, they look real! Incredibly real! Even when paused and advanced a frame at a time, the pod race action looks like the real thing. In the real world, objects racing past a camera lens produce a blurred image that is more blurred the closer to the camera, less so as the distance increases. In order to be convincing, animation must do the same thing. The sorcerers at ILM have done this to perfection, combining real images and computer generated ones, matching surround sound to the action, and giving us so many simultaneous tracking movements our heads begin to spin, as though we are riding one of those wild, carreening "pods" through the jagged stone walls and screeching over the desert race course. But enough about "special effects" (I hate that phrase). What everyone seems to carp about most is the story...and the actors, especially the young actor chosen to play Anakin Skywalker. More about the story in a minute. Let's talk about the boy first. I admit to long being mystified as to why this particular youngster (Jake Lloyd) was chosen. In the previews I had seen, he seemed dull, uninspired, almost disinterested. Viewing the actual film, I was of much the same opinion at first, but he did start to grow on me. It was only later, on viewing the multitudinous "making of" documentaries on disk 2 (see especially "3000 Anakins"!), where his auditions can be compared to those of two other boys, that I began to realize that he had actually been an excellent choice. What, then, is the reason that his on-screen performance seems at times so lackluster? After viewing this film, I firmly believe that the true culprit was sloppy and careless directing, not this inexperienced nine year old boy. In many of the peeks we get into the actual filming sessions, there seems to be an attitude of "let the kid be himself," with apparently the first take often being accepted as good enough because he's satisfyingly "unpredictable." This not only seems to have been the case in the direction (or lack of it) of young Lloyd, but in many of the scenes that did not include him. Having seen the kid's audition, I believe he was probably capable of delivering a great Anakin, but he was rarely if ever challenged, coached, or directed to do so. Result -- mediocrity that is by no means the kid's fault. He was only nine, so the fault must lie with the adults, and it plainly does. Jake's performances are by no means the only wooden ones in this movie. Now to the story: I didn't fathom it, but this incredible flick is so entertaining in all its many other aspects, I really didn't care. In truth, I'm not a Star Wars fan. Never have been. So when that mob of oddly dressed wooden characters began babbling about Senators and treaties and Federations and other such mish-mosh, I gave up, relaxed, and just enjoyed the music and the backgrounds. A second and third viewing of SW-I will probably begin to clear things up for me -- but really, the action itself is so appealing, an actual story would seem almost an impediment to the enjoyment of this visual and sonic tour de force. If you're a Star Wars fan and know the basic story and all the characters, then you will pick up on that aspect of things a lot quicker than I did, and will enjoy this movie again and again, I'm sure. But, from my point of view, it is a tribute to George Lucas and all the immensely talented people who gave us this treasure, that a detailed story isn't really all that necessary. For the casual viewer, just having a rough idea of what's going on is enough. The pure visceral experience of SW-I is worth four stars alone, and that's what I give "The Phantom Menace." Technically, though, the DVD transfer is a solid 5 stars. In terms of bang for the bucks, it's off the scale!
Rating:
Summary: Episode I- A Very Mixed Bag
Review: For some reason, I was looking forward to purchasing "Star Wars, Episode I- The Phantom Menace". Having gone to the theater four times last summer to see it, the video purchase was a given. However, the experience just isn't the same. Watching at home, I was able to analyze the film's problems, most notably some exceptionally silly dialogue(the one that really sticks out is the Jake Lloyd as Anakin "The biggest problem in this universe is that no one helps each other" line). There are some talented actors here- Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn and Ewan MacGregor's Obi-Wan are fine, but Natalie Portman's constant wardrobe changes detract from her performance(what's with the Queen's British accent and Padme's American dialect?).Jake Lloyd, is, well, raw. One must wonder what Haley Joel Osment could have done with that role. On the plus side, the lightsaber battle with the two Jedi versus Darth Maul was fantastic. Too bad Lucas didn't want to keep Maul around for Episode II. The pod race is nifty as well, although not as refreshing on the small screen. There's also too much going on at the end with an uninspired space battle, a childish sequence involving the Gungans and the Trade Federation Battle Droids, and the aforementioned(but very cool) lightsaber duel. Yes, the special effects are well done, but there's nothing in the film that makes you say "How'd they do that?" And this whole situation with no DVD in the near future. Why, George, why? After five viewings, I've seen enough of "The Phantom Menace" to hold me over until May, 2002, when hopefully, we'll see a darker Episode II...although, how dark can it be if Jar Jar returns?
|
