Rating: 
Summary: JJB was bad, but the lack of character was worse
Review: I will not buy this on DVD. I will not buy the "first" three either (unless they release a NON-special edition version). I'm not going to make Lucas or Fox any richer on my dollar.I'm not going to talk about what this movie could have been. Everybody has their theories about what they wanted to see on that screen after waiting 20 years. I want to approach this movie on it's own, and not as part of a universe. The main reason that Alien 3 was so disappointing was because of the story line inconsistency with the previous movies. It was terrible what that film did to the story that Scott and Cameron had built up, but taken on it's own it's not really that bad of a film. I wanted to give the Menace the same chance. To address some arguments before I begin. First, as far as I know, in 1977, Star Wars was not made for children. Star Wars did not cater to children. It had audiences from 5 to 75 fascinated. Not just 3-13 year old future Gen-Xers, but all audiences fell in love with that movie. In LA, people in their twenties and thirties went to see Star Wars two to three times a day. This film was ground breaking and blew people's minds. Sure, when you see "Star Wars" or "2001:A Space Odyssey" now, it is possible to forget the impact these movies had. Taken in context of when they were released, these movies inspired, confused, and awed audiences of ALL AGES world wide. Second, I state that children do not need to be catered to. When I was eight years old I saw one of the greatest films ever made, Raiders of the Lost Arc. At that time in my then short life, Raiders was the most incredible thing that I had ever seen. As an eight-year-old, believe it or not, I did not need a flatulant pack animal or a goofy sidekick or a "yippee" child to keep my attention. I enjoyed a movie that was able to be very fun and intelligent on it's own merits. Now on to the menace. The first thing seen in this movie are bug-like aliens who have overdubbed Asian accents that don't match their lip movements. In the beginning of this epic space opera, the director starts us off with the equivalent to what we see at 2:00 in the morning watching 70's Kung Fu movies. Bad overdubbing. Next we get our buddy. The Jar-ster. I don't think I need to comment. Within the first two minutes on screen the Biggs quotes Wayne's World. How "current" to make reference to a movie that came out in 1991. I'm sure at least half of the 1300+ reviews below me have gone into how hideous this character is, so I don't need to. The Phantom Edit speaks for millions...."exsqueeze me"?????!?!?!?!? The "bad guys" in this film, rather than the menacing Stormtroopers, are a group of rickety robots. They don't have any emotional quality to them, so the only way to make them threatening is to show them in immense numbers. Who are the robots the biggest threat to? The CG gungens. Oh...no real loss there. The gungens are rather annoying anyway, and watching the CG robots attack the CG gungens doesn't really impact the film viewer in any way. The pod race was 80% there. The sports announcers really took from that scene. It brought the movie out of "long ago and far away" to USA Saturday Football game. It totally killed the suspension of disbelief that a viewer tries to build up. Also, the race was so ... boring that Jabba even fell asleep. Yippee! What I put above are what would give this film two or three stars. Add into the mix that Darth Vader built C-3PO, the really stupid space battle where Anakin accidentally blows up the robot control ship...whoops, the E.T.'s that were in the Galactic Council. The stupid accents given to every alien race, rather than developing a creative language like Jawwa, Huttes, and Ewok. Changing the Zen philosophies of "Empire" into mitochondria...*cough* I mean midichlorians. What gives this film the 0-1 star rating is the lack of character. I don't give ... about special effects. Clerks, Rear Window, The Godfather, Reservoir Dogs, and Goodfellas had hardly any special effects, but are superior films because the characters are fascinating. Special Effects can only help a movie, and will never make a movie great unless there is meat underneath them. As the now gone Eon Magazine said, Obi-Wan was basically a glorified mechanic in this film. His job was to...fix the ship. At last Darth Maul will have his revenge. For what? Qui-gon is on the outs with the Jedi council...why? My Phantom edit: Give Qui-gon and Darth Maul more flushing out and back story. Cut out the gungens completely. Edit the space battle so it's exciting. Cut the slave stuff out. We've spent 3 movies on Tatooine now, time to move on. Spend an additional 20 minutes on Corsecant (sp?). Spend 20 fewer minutes on Tatooine. Spend a lot less time on gungen planet. Try to edit the other action sequences to be as exciting as the light saber duels. There's too much to fix, so I maintain my 0-1 star rating. I hope the second film will be better, but I'm not holding my breath. A friend of mine at ILM tells me that they will return to that desert planet a fourth time, and have just as much frigging Jar Jerk as before. At least we have "The Fellowship Ring" to look forward to. Peter Jackson has yet to disappoint!
Rating:
Summary: could have been good
Review: I won't take credit for this statement, but I think the guy who said it hit the nail on the head. The thing lacking from Phantom Menace was a human moment. Such as Luke staring off into the setting suns in "Star Wars" while the orchestra played behind him. This simple ten second moment captured the essence of his character. The characters in Phantom Menace had no depth, and that is why it was disappointing. I've read a lot of the "5 Star" reviews that say people who don't like this movie are not "True Fans". I disagree. I've loved Star Wars since I was a child. That means that I want to see the best come from the world that I love, rather than blindly accepting what is fed to them without thinking about it. I can admit that, Phantom Menace is a bad film, that gets worse each time I watch it. (The effects are nice...so what? Give me some interesting characters!)
Rating:
Summary: Where's my DVD version?
Review: I would buy this if it were on DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Average for Star Wars standards.
Review: I would have to say that this is not Lucas's best film ever produced. The voice overs in the movie are very cheesy, sounds like something from a 50's film. Overall visual special effects are great as always. The plot line seems a bit hard to grasp at first, but overall easy to understand. Jar Jar binks as im sure you might have heard is a bit annoying, but does however add a little humor to the movie, definitely a chick charactor (no offense). I am definitely looking forward to Episode II and I hope Lucas puts a bit more of the "Star Wars" feeling back into it.
Rating: 
Summary: Boo
Review: I would just like to say that if you really like this movie then I feel sorry for you.
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars I is a big flop......
Review: I would like to say that any one who would consider buying this movie is a fool. this wa sthe worst ever Star Wars movie. I am a huge Star Wars fan, and I woulnd't spend my hard earned money on that piece of crap movie. George Lucas, may have did an exellent job making that film, but the movie was slow, and had no relivance to the Star Wars plot what so ever, If you have not seen this movie, don;t wast your time.
Rating: 
Summary: OK here's the deal.
Review: I would like to start off by saing that this is in no way the best star wars movie...Plain and simple. But it isn't that bad, and now that it's on video it's even better...You can skip over the boring or embarassing parts (Yippie [twice? what was lucas thinking] and Gooo annie) and stick with the good parts, like the awsome fight at the end. Or any other fight in the movie. JarJar can be anoying, but if you don't like him that much fastforward! And one more thing, There will not be a DVD for a long long time, Live with it. I get so sick of people complaining about no dvd, what did you throw your VCR away? Too bad. You'll get your DVD in 5 years.
Rating:
Summary: Why bother?
Review: I would love to know why anybody would even bother putting this disgrace to Star Wars on DVD format, especially when the real three are no where near to being on DVD. Oh yeah, because George Lucas is all about marketing and Phantom Menace was the largest commerical ever made. It is amazing that people think Jar Jar was an appropriate character. Avoid this movie at all costs if you haven't been brainwashed by George Lucas yet.
Rating: 
Summary: Special-effects saves the movie
Review: I would rank "Phantom Menace" ahead of "Return of the Jedi", but behind "Star Wars" and "Empire Strikes Back". Postives about the movie: 1) The special effects are dazzling, and it takes repeated viewings to see everything. 2) Great sound effects and musical score. 3) The battle near the end of the movie between Darth Maul and the Jedi Knights was exciting. 4) The pod race was terrific to watch, especially if your TV has a stereo system and a large screen. Negatives about the movie: 1) "Phantom Menace" lacks a charismatic star, like Harrison Ford or even Carrie Fisher. 2) Script is weak at times, and the plot is confusing. 3) Jar Jar Binks gets too much camera time. 4) Jake Lloyd, the boy who played Anakin Skywalker, was too young for me to believe he could accomplish everything he did in the film. 5) The movie was about 20 minutes too long. If it wasn't for the wonderful special effects, I would probably have given "Phantom Menance" a lesser rating. Still, it's a fun movie to watch, and hopefully the next one will be even better.
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars Commercial
Review: I would rate this movie 3 stars if it was the first in the series rather than the fourth and a continuation I've been waiting 20 years for. This movie is nothing more than a commercial for Star Wars toys and merchandise. A waste of talent (Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, etc.)I was really excited to share this movie with My five year old daughter who had really enjoyed the tapes of the first three, I think she got alot more enjoyment out of Toy Story 2. The special effects were so-so (especially being that it came out the same year as The Matrix) Save Your money or buy the first three. If Your a Star Wars fan You will enjoy it, but for the rest of us its just a lesson of selling out to make money. Shame on You Mr. Lucas!
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