Rating: 
Summary: Not the same George Lucas magic from the first three
Review: It's hard to give a bad review to a movie that you have grown up with. I believe that nothing could of lived up to Star Wars fan expectations. Expectations were simply just too high. The first three Star Wars movie were great, but not critically acclaimed since, lets face it, some of the dialog was corny. But at least there were great characters that you could love. With Phantom Menace the biggest let down is the lack of great characters. In the original movies you have a more threatening villan. In Phantom Menace, Darth Maul seemed like he was just thrown in the movie for the light saber scenes. The only character i did enjoy was Senator Palatine, he was the only one in the movie that seemed to have the dimension, and intelligence that the characters from the original movie had. All the other characters, especially the annoying Jar Jar Binks, were not as likable as the original cast...although he seems to be the most memorable character from the movie just from the fact that everyone hated him so much.
Great, ground-breaking things were done with special effects and animation in this movie. It seems too much attention was put into being 'state-of-the-art' and not enough attention to story lines and characters. The original Star Wars didn't have all the digital gagetry that this one had but still told an interesting story. Some other things raise questions also, like the huge age difference between the Queen Amedala and Anakin Skywalker!
After watching and loving the Original Star Wars trilogy it is hard to totally hate this movie. As far as classic sci-fi motion pictures goes i think maybe George Lucas should have left well enough alone and just be known for three great movies. But i think that no matter how bad his movies are we will still watch them and buy them just because we are addicted to the Star War legacy...even though the long wait for the release of the DVD version is a blantent attempt to get more of our money, after already buying the VHS version.
Rating: 
Summary: Episode I : The Phantom Menace (Star Wars)
Review: It's important to note that I am only giving this movie four stars because I am an avid fan. You'll see no argument from me in that it was not better than the first three. It still makes an interesting flick.Some of the movie's downfalls are that : 1) "Overkill" on the digital effects. (I still have yet to see a Jabba the Hutt that is realistic and compares to the vile form from Return of the Jedi.) 2) Can't understand what Jar-Jar Binks and his other race members are saying. 3) The first 1/3 of the movie is saved by the Jedi scenes, otherwise it contains rather boring characters. Lucas did score big on his digital effects with the fantastic pod racing scene and the ending jedi knight duel. (Too bad my two favorite characters were both killed.) One aspect that might take away from the movie if you are a Star Wars fan is that some of the intrigue is taken away when you already know what happens in the future. (aka Senator Palpatine becomes the Emporer, Anakin becomes Darth Vader) It's still a good movie that I would rate above other multi-million special effects giants such as Armageddon, Godzilla, Independece Day etc...
Rating: 
Summary: One Redeeming Grace
Review: It's interesting. Star Wars, a series that Mark Hamill's acting couldn't kill, was laid low by it's own creator. The Phantom Menace took a formerly great series and disolved it into a stream of slapstick, pod racing, and Jar-Jar Binks. Some thoughts: why are the battle robots given weapons that are seperate from themselves? Why aren't the built into the hardware? Also, why do these death robots use normal speach to talk to each other, and why do they look like people instead of a form that kills more efficently? However, it does warrant a second star. Why? For one part: the Duel of the Fates, a John Williams-underscored fight sequence on par with the better moments of Star Wars. If the rest of the film had been on that level, The Phantom Menace might have been the best of the series. Instead, it is regared, by and large, as the worst.
Rating: 
Summary: Plain old bad.
Review: It's just a load of rubbish, isn't it really? A real shame that a producer who has a carte-blanche to make any film he desires spends his time making dull, sub-video game rehashes of his greatest hits.
Rating:
Summary: Not the Star Wars I remember. Why do others think different?
Review: It's just not the same. I mean how many people want to sit at a 2 hour movie just to see special effects?? Did George Lucas get side-tracked having all this technology now to work with and not focusing as much on the actual story? The story was there, but the way he fit it into the movie. I kept on waiting for a powerful or exciting part to happen, but it never happened. The person you can always count on though is John Williams. He did a fantastic job with the music yet again. Anyways, Jar Jar took the place of C-3PO, by being the annoying character. HOWEVER, C-3PO played a much more interesting part. Jar jar was just plain annoying. Plus the movie at some points looks like a little kids movie. Jar Jar making stupid jokes and Anakin having no idea what he is doing and out of the blue blowing up the space ship is a little weird. There was not that relationship you can feel you have with the characters. There were the romantic (han and leia), the emotional, and powerful scenes in ANH, ESB, and ROJ. I can pick my favorite character out of the original trilogy, which would probably be either han or leia. I can only pick the most annoying in episode 1. I have seen mixed reviews about this movie. I can only say that the people who liked it weren't so much interested in the story but in the neat ships and great technology they had. I would like a great story and a powerful ending, such as in A new hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The casting needs to be worked on also in the phantom menace. Plus, how many weird looking creatures could George Lucas fit into episode 1??? My favorite is the Empire STrikes Back because it had the least amount of weird aliens in it. It actually had mostly real people! I just hope the George Lucas realizes that he didn't please as many people with his JUST special effects show as he might think. I would suggest going back and do it how you did the TRILOGY!
Rating:
Summary: HUGE disapointment
Review: It's not that I didn't want to like this movie because I really wanted to like it. I spent some extra cash buying a midnight madness ticket to be one of the first in my town to see it. I saw it a few more times hoping I had missed something. I tried to make myself like this movie because afterall it's "Star Wars" but I've given up... I really don't need to mention Jar Jar because everyone knows how horrible of an idea that was. You can compare him to the Ewoks all you want but at least the Ewoks weren't spouting off 90's pop culture references and silly childish jokes. There was something MUCH less annoying with the Ewoks talking in a foreign tongue while we can unfortunately understand everything Jar Jar says. Jar Jar is often used when it feels he should have no part in the scene and his presence is the equivalent of a needle in the retina. This character has spawned a host of Anti-Jar Jar web pages and even a web ring. The characters are pretty lifeless. I didn't find myself caring for them as I did in the original series and I found the character interaction to be pretty bland. The acting was just so cold and without feeling. The liberal use of computer graphics added to this. More specifically, the computer graphics effects were hugely over-the-top and I felt they took away from the movie. It felt like watching a video game in parts because the enviornment was so heavily computer generated (and I could easily tell). This just added to the lifelessness of the movie. I couldn't believe this was the prequel to the series I had grown up loving. It's always sad when a great idea gets overly modernized and commercialized and this is one of the grimmest examples. (Those of you who saw the original Mr. Bean tv series and then the movie may have an idea of what I mean). I did enjoy the duel at the end with Darth Maul. The anticpation of Kenobi and Maul about to get it on while waiting for the electronic wall to go off was great. Unfortunately I wasn't just looking for eye candy. This isn't just a rush to judgement review on my part but a sad, slow realization of how much better this movie could've been. I'm not ripping on this movie because it may be the popular thing to do, this is genuine. I just hope Lucas does a better job on the next two.
Rating: 
Summary: Better every time.
Review: It's one of those movies where after you see it once you think "It's good", then after you see it again you think "It's really good", and after you see it a third time you think "Damnnnn good". Every time you see it you pick up on some subtle little thing you hadn't yet noticed. This movie does justice to the series.
Rating:
Summary: FUBAR
Review: It's sad when a creator has completely lost
touch with his creation.
Rating:
Summary: review
Review: It's Star Wars, it can't be bad. Also was present at the very first showning in the world while stationed in Guam.
Rating:
Summary: Great film.
Review: It's Star Wars, what can I say? It's an astounding stepping stone for an incredible story. This was just the setup the pay off is coming. It changes Star Wars forever in the best possible way. Highest recommendation to those not caught up in how they think Star Wars should be.
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