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Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition)

Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $13.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must have DVD for those lazy afternoons ...
Review: I know that this Star Wars has received some mixed reviews from the die hard fans that have PHd's in Star Warology, but, as far as I'm concerned, a mere wookie mortal living in Ft Lauderdale, this is one great DVD .....

As far as I'm concerned I think Jar Jar Binks absolutely rules and it's one of the greatest characters ever to come out of the mind of Lucas, right afer Joda .....

For those of you that have surround sound at home with a wide screen television, the technical production of this movie will let you put those amps and speakers through their paces ..... The movie is cut in an anamorphic widescreen ration of 2.35:1 which for the uninitiated means your wife won't be sitting beside you complaining that everyone in the movie is too fat ....

What can you say when video, sound and special effects are perfect ...... hands down one of the best DVD's around today .....

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This is Bad, Very Bad!
Review: I know that's a tag line from Reboot not Star Wars but it fits sooo well. My first rational reaction to this was "It took Lucus 16 years to write this mess?!" It is pretty, I'll give it that much. The special effects are gorgeous and so is Ewen McGregor. That's not enough. This film has serious plot problems. Too many to go into here. In addition I felt that long sections of the movie were just commercials for the tie in products. The pod race is the prime example of this. You just knew there would be a pod racer toy and video game. Sure enough there were. The character of Jar Jar is so offensive that there are actually people out there offering bootleg tapes with the promise that most of his scenes have been edited out. Not since Barney has there been a character that is so hated. If you really feel you must spend money on this (I wish I hadn't)then by all means get the DVD. The special effects will look better and it will be easier to skip the really bad stuff than it is with video. OR better yet get the Weird Al Yankavic Live DVD where he does "The Saga Begins" His retelling of the story set to "The day the music died." It is a much more enjoyable experience.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Good Addition
Review: I know this is an unpopular view - but I thought Phantom Menace was well done. Granted, the creatures (like Jar-Jar) got annoying. But when people say that, I wonder what they thought of the Catina scene in Episode IV, or the Ewoks in Episode VI, or Jabba's palace, also in Episode VI, or perhaps the Jawas in Episode IV. To me the cute and cuddly Ewoks taking on the Empire was less believable than the Gungans in Phantom Menace.

The story in Episode I was much more fleshed out. I love the original trilogy, but the dialogue is severely lacking in many places. (Witness the scene between Leia and Han in the Ewok village discussing her alleged feelings for Luke in Episode VI for just one example.) All of the movies are very cliched in many respects: there are a lot of dystopian viewpoints in it as well as Messianic overtones and even some Arthurian/Templar type mythology. And that is what Star Wars is: a recasting of many of our major myths in a science-fictional format. It still astounds me the people who fail to realize this and treat it as such.

I thought this movie did a good job of showing the initial formation of the Empire via the machinations of Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious. No movie is going to be perfect (especially when matched up against people's expectations; even though they rarely know what their expectations were) but I think Episode I was a worthy addition to the Star Wars mythos.

I take heart, however. Star Wars Episode IV gathered pretty bad initial reviews as well when it came out in 1977. It took people a little while to come around. Perhaps the same will occur with Episode I.

I have also seen a lot of specific complaints about the movie:

"Anakin not being dark enough." That would miss the point. The point is: he is the balance. This goes back to the mythology aspects of Star Wars, and is reminiscent of the idea of the seventh son. What this means is that Anakin is one of those that can be swayed to good or evil.

"The midichlorians." What is wrong with that? Star Wars was a little too much like mysticism with the Force originally. I like the idea of this being a pervasive force throughout the universe (like a Higgs field in our own universe) that can be channeled by people. This should have a ready place in the hearts of New Agers or those who believe in the ability of people to channel energy around them. I am not one of those people - but at least I like this attempt to explain how some people can utilize the Force and others cannot.

"Technology is better." Well, visually the movie looks better! Does that mean the technology shown in the movie is better? Are there some detailed specs that are floating around for each ship and that someone has done a massive comparison of? I doubt it. The droids were basically droids. The ships were quite obviously precursor designs in various cases to X-Wings and Tie-Fighters. This movie only took place 32 years prior to the events in A New Hope. Thus we would expect improvements but not necessarily massive change considering that during that time the Empire was in power and thus, much like the Roman Church in our history, clamped down on technology. And that is what we see: from the relatively simple ships, we later see Death Stars, Star Destroyers, and Mon Calamari carrier craft.

"Jar-Jar." Okay, to some degree he might have been annoying. On the other hand, how different was he from Wicket (one of the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi)? I agree he was a little bit corny but, then again, Lucas probably wants to appeal to younger and older audiences - always a delicate balancing act. In fact, Jar-Jar was sort of the Wicket of this movie - he introduced the Jedi's to the Gungans (much as Wicket introduced the Rebels to the Ewoks).

Also consider that this movie followed the theme of Return of the Jedi, particularly near the end. We had three battles going on: the space battle, the ground battle, and the light-saber duel. Think about Return of the Jedi and you will see that the same thematic ideas were used. Both movies showed a relatively inferior race (the Gungans and Ewoks) coming under the control of an ostensibly more powerful force and then, in the end, winning out. I bring this up because I have seen many people who claim they liked (or even loved!) Return of the Jedi say they hated this movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good considering its the 1st?...
Review: I know this wasn't as good as the originals, but considering all factors it wasn't bad. Since this is the first movie it has to lay the foundation for all SIX films, so of course there wasn't that much of a plot. I reas that it was also childish and had Jar Jar because Lucas wanted a lighter film due to the darker themes of the next two. This is when Anaking turns to vader and the republic declines.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the matrix
Review: i like all the slow reactions when they jump

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the phantom rocks the house
Review: i like all the star wars films they are all

my faverite movies i like scifi

movies

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not a Starwars bias review
Review: I like all the Starwars movies that came out like everyone else. To be honest I felt a little disappointed in the Phantom Menace movie when it first came out. All the special effects scenes in the movie that were made in the movie were suppose to revolutionize the industry. The over all outcome was not exactly all that breath taking. In anycase I reserved a copy of Phantom DVD because I was thrilled to hear of the new deleted scenes and the extended pod race scene. To be honest even without the scenes I would have purchased it anyway. I was hoping that there was so much more that was missed in the movie and is now included in the DVD. Over all the set up and chapter selections were nice but not great. The special contents within didn't wet my appetite either. The missing scenes were short and I saw no reason why they shouldn't have been included in disc one. The DVD like the movie fell short in impressing me whatsoever. However I am a Starwars fan and I feel obliged to purchase it. On it's merits alone I would just put it back on the shelf. I forsee this edition will be forgotten and price reduced on a clearance rack in about a month. The only thing that will keep this in the spolight is the coming of episode 2 in theaters.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A piece of the puzzle
Review: I like it. It's simply a piece of the puzzle that in the long run will likely fit in perfectly with the 9(?)-part series. I think it looks foreign to many people because the usual cast wasn't (of course) involved. But I think it's a nice piece of cinema with great effects and good acting. Let's hope, though, that II & III will shine as much as IV-VI.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: a new fan but an old one
Review: I like the first one because it is the beginning. In human nature when you change something, people don't like it. I liked to meet obi-wan kenobi (ewan Mcgregor) before he became Alec guinness,in episode iv. Did you know what movie made Alec guinness famous? I will tell you THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI which is a war movie. If you haven't seen it please do, rent it or whatever. As i said ealier i am an old and new fan. some people don't like jar jar binks but he is comic relif. I am sorry about my spelling please forgive me. I am looking forward to seeing the movie on dvd that i don't own untill october 16 2001 but my review is basied on the vhs tape, which i have watched many times. Something instrsting obi-wans light saber is blue in episode 1 the same color as it is in episode IV why is that. Enough of me watch the first one and look for things that appear later in episode IV. han solo in episode 1 is born or just about to be or not to be?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is the best. We are a menace to the dark side!
Review: I like this film. This film is the best of the Star Wars series. I like this film. I like JarJar Binks, and Anakin Skywalker. I also like the jedi too. I have this along with the original Star Wars Trilogy. I can't believe how many negative reviews this is getting. You people who gave this movie five stars are growing stronger in the force! while you people who poured out these negative reviews are of the dark side. This film is the best of the best. I also like Darth Mall. There are alot of things that I like about this film. 1. I like the Pod Race on the Tatowine desert. 2. I like the two on one lightsaber duel. 3. I also like the Gungams and Darth Cidious. This film is highly recommended to future fans. This film is the way of the future. Wake up! people!


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