Rating: 
Summary: The roller coaster ride
Review: Let me make this plain to all those who didn't like it...The Phantom Menace is your typical action movie that sends you on a thrill ride and lets you off again.Also, Jar Jar was not utterly repulsive, we all know why he was there, but what I'm getting at is that this is yet another example of the roller coaster ride syndrome. Lucas needed someone to smooth the action over so it did not overwhelm the story and perhaps he was right, but sending in blubbering Jar Jar (how did he get along in life everyone wonders)? Well, to each their own. Also, it is quite obvious that this movie is mostly for the kids - they identify with Anakin and as in all kid movies, they always know more and can do more than the adults. How else to appeal to kids than that? I couldn't buy the fact that Anakin could pilot, let alone BUILD a podracer. If you were 10 or 8, or however old he was, would YOU be out there racing for life or death? Or how about C-320? Anakin is well versed in advanced physics and electronics development and just happened to tinker him together? Please. And last of all, the space combat scene where Anakin decides to join the WWII fighter like planes and attack the droid space station. If that really took place, Anakin would have been blown from the sky from the flak generated from the station. And for those of you who read this and think I'm wrong: If you'll remember the space battle, the other pilots were getting shot out of the sky and were having great difficulty just holding themselves together. And Anakin just happens to avoid getting blown up and just happens to land in the bay with the power generator? Get this, he does all of this without knowing how to pilot the thing and happins to shoot off the proton torpedoes when he tries to get out of the bay, blowing up the station in the process. I know some of you will think that because he knew how to pilot a podracer and the fact that he is "guided by the force", he would be able to do all of those things. Still, the force can only do so much with an underdeveloped brain such as Anakin's. About Darth Maul - in my opinion, he was frightening to a certain extent, but he didn't say much and so there wasn't much to fear. Had the movie stuck to character development rather than action, it could have been hailed as the greatest sci-fi/fantacy film since the original series, which also suffered from some of those same kid elements. But that's another story. For those of you who saw "The Matrix", and who didn't?, you'll remember how the characters were well developed and it was a perfect blend of great story and action. You know who you are and you know what I'm talking about. The Phantom Menance could have been a good deal more, explaining and remaining ON the story of the various worlds and the Jedi than filling it with so much action that it became just that - an action picture. And there you have the point of my posting. The Phantom Menance is merely an action movie for all ages, not the great sci-fi/fantacy story it could have been. When are filmmakers going to wake up and realize that sci-fi fans don't want hype and overused special effects (they should be used as a backdrop, not making up the whole movie)...we want story and ideas; those profound ideas that come from sci-fi! Where is the Foundation Triligy when you need it? Now that had story!
Rating: 
Summary: OK for kids, disappointing for older viewers
Review: Let me preface my comments by saying if you're 16 and younger, The Phantom Menace is a nice little movie. However, if you're old enough to remember seeing the original trilogy back in the 70's, then read on... 1) The Phantom Menace story and script are dull. I can only watch this movie now for about 15 minutes at a time before I get totally bored and switch it off. 2) The main characters are stiff and colorless. 3) Jar Jar Binks gets too much screen time. 4) Jake Lloyd, as Anakin, is too young to accomplish all the feats presented in this film. I mean, having a little boy create a super sophisticated android like C-3PO, blowing up huge space stations inside fighter planes and winning a pod race at 500 mph is a bit far-fetched, even for a fantasy movie. Lucas should have cast an older child for this part and toned down his achievements. 5) The special effects are Phantom Menace's only redeeming quality. Yet strangely enough they are also a liability. This movie has TOO MUCH computer generated graphics; it's like watching a video game. I think Lucas and his team at ILM were so excited with the CGI technology they were creating that they forget to concentrate on the human characters. To me, the heart of Star Wars is not the special effects, monsters or robots, it's the drama surrounding the human relationships with characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo. Phantom Menace totally lacks this quality. There is no substance there.
Rating: 
Summary: The Phantom Movie
Review: Let me start by saying that I, as a teen in 1977, fell completely in love with the first STAR WARS. Everything worked and everyone loved it. I enjoyed THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK until it stopped: it didn't end, it just stopped.
When I sat through RETURN OF THE JEDI in 1983, I was surrounded by little kids who ran straight out of the mall theatre to the nearby toy store to buy their own cuddly, adorable Ewoks and Yodas...then I gave up. Twenty years later--which I thought would've been plenty of time to think and rethink the series--I go see THE PHANTOM MENACE.
As much as I disliked the toy commercial that was RETURN OF THE JEDI, at least there were interesting characters showing up once in a while. I understand they pretty much stood around in the background while muppets fought and drooled, but they were there. PHANTOM actually made the human characters the LEAST interesting characters in the movie.
The pod race, which everyone said was the highlight, came off like an expensive video game (watch the chariot race in BEN-HUR for some genuine excitement). Jar Jar Dink or whatever his name was is easily the most annoying non-character I've ever seen in a movie (Joe Pesci in the LETHAL WEAPON sequels is in second place). Everyone looks bored. The low point: sitting in the theatre to the bitter end (my wife had walked out to shop in the mall halfway through since she couldn't stay awake), watching digital armies of robots fight digital armies of frog-things and not one human being in sight.
Rating:
Summary: Something Is Missing!
Review: Let me start off by saying that The Phantom Menace is an OK movie. Sure the graphics are amazing in this movie, but doesn't it seem that it might get a little boring if the special effects swallow the almost the WHOLE MOVIE?! There were not those suspenseful, dramatic, romantic parts in this movie. Take The Empire Strikes Back for instance. It was made in 1980 when there wasn't near the technology for special effects then, and STILL it was one of the most popular movies OF ALL TIME! So does there have to be that many computerized stuff in a movie to make it great? To me, there were too many annoying characters (Jar Jar Binks). If you are in to the special effects of the movie this IS the movie for you. If you are like me and actually want to have a good story in a movie, watch the original trilogy. They need to spend more time thinking of the story rather than finding effects that would impress the audience.
Rating: 
Summary: Not easy to rate
Review: Let me tell you something - how can you rate a movie that was expected form whole world, who is part of a legendary saga that has countless fans, as a dissapointment? Even if Lucas filmed Natalie Portman for two hours I would be pretty satisfied. :) OK, this was stupid (I really like Natalie:)), but try to get my point - Lucas was trying to open a new chapter, not do the evolution of characters or places. Did you expect dark, hard story, or countless emotional moments? I didn`t, and was not dissapointed. Waht we have here is a nice opening of a new triology, a moive with enough action, new stuff and an interesting political (galaxy political, not USA and Russia political :)) story that you can enyoj if you are a fan or not. I admit that I hate Jar-Jar Binks and that some things are too simplified at the moments, but once again, I hope you didn`t expect revolution. Episod 2 is promised to be darker and more complicated, wich is good news and will probably satisfy fans. But, untill then, Episode one is a cool galactial fairy tale made with just enough Lucas magic to NOT dissapoint.
Rating:
Summary: gee...do I really wanna weigh in on this one?
Review: Let's cut to the quick...if you work hard for a living and at the end of the day you just wanna pop a burrito in the oven, grab a beer and put a special effects space flick on the tube so you can veg for a couple of hours, here's your flick. However, if you're looking for the original brilliance of Lucas...sorry. If you're looking for solid character development...no cigar. If it will break your heart to see the talent of Liam Neeson wasted...stay away. If you're turned off by the "Joseph Campbell-the-universe-is-a-great-big-myth-good vs.evil-mystical hodge podge"...run for your life. If you are offended by thinly veiled racial stereotyping...flee. But, if you need something to go with that burrito and beer...enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: What a boring movie!
Review: Let's face it folks, this movie sucks. As hard and nearly impossible as it would be for George Lucas or anyone else to make a movie that's anywhere near as good as the original Star Wars and/or Empire Strikes Back, this was embarrassingly bad and only a ten year old could like it. What an insult that millions of movie-goers paid to watch a two-hour toy commercial. There was absolutely no story. Something about a Queen? Whatever. Americans could care less about having a Queen. Darth Vader was the greatest villain of all time. It was bad enough that he became Mr. Goodie Two-shoes in Return of the Jedi. Now seeing him as a little brat is just annoying. Okay so the effects are good but who even cares anymore? Effects nowadays are a dime a dozen. In 1977, yes it was impressive. Now it's just expected. George Lucas should've been honest with himself as an artist and admitted his script wasn't as good as it needed to be. How could someone as brilliant as he is overlook what made Star Wars so exciting in the first place? He himself once said that "Without a good story a movie is boring." Sounds like he was describing this movie. He should have brought a fresh new writer on-board to co-write this; someone determined to make a good movie like George Lucas once was. Everything in Hollywood has become so predictically formulaic that the once rule-breaking rebels like George Lucas have sold-out to the system in the name of being politically correct and to appeal mainly to the pre-puberty crowd. The original trilogy appealed to all ages but this one doesn't even try to. The cast is very weak and desperately needs a Harrison Ford or a Carrie Fischer to carry it. Liam Neeson looks embarrassed and bored out of his mind. He probably was and who could blame him? .
Rating:
Summary: An overflow of CGI and a trickle of everything else.
Review: Let's face it: "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" will forever be known as the worst Star Wars movie ever produced. Even people who seriously defend this movie have to agree Episodes IV, V, and VI were better. The big question concerning this movie: what went wrong? How could the most hyped movie of all time coin the term "Episode I Syndrome"? The answer is simple: "The Phantom Menace" tries to be too much of what the first three movies were known for and fails to allow other factors have the same degree of quality. When "Star Wars: A New Hope" was released, it was praised for its then-revolutionary special effects, and the next two movies received an equal amount of praise. But George Lucas also managed to give these movie a coherent and suitable plot so they wouldn't be seen as "tech-demos". When CGI evolved, movies started to use them more and more, until some movies were nothing but. "Tron", "The Haunting", and "The Mummy Returns" are all infamous examples of movies that utilized excellent special effects but had nothing else to show for it. "Episode I", unfortunately, joins this crowd. The movie becomes questionable at the very beginning, when the famous Star Wars Theme plays and the opening paragraph runs. Unlike previous Star Wars openings, this one talks about...politics? We're introduced to the new Star Wars movie not with a galactic battle or terrible crisis, but politics? Why? Then we meet the two Jedi and immediately we sense something is wrong. Why is the dialogue so...stiff? Emotionless? Even flat? Aren't the two actors enjoying themselves? Aren't they glad they're in a legendary Star Wars movie? Sadly, the movie never tells us, because this kind of feeling remains throughout the entire movie. Despite some really interesting battles, the central theme of the story remains politics, and this was Lucas's first mistake. Isn't the saga called Star WARS? Lucas' second mistake was his biggest: the CGI. Now, it's not that this CGI is bad; in fact, it's probably some of the best ever created for a film. The problem is that Lucas uses it far too much. It's as if in every other scene Lucas decided, "I think I'll put a wow-inducing special effect here. It might not be necessary, but it'll look cool." And sadly, the high use of CGI contributed to the low quality of plot and acting. The plot is probably the flimsiet plot ever devised in a Star Wars film, and the actors don't seem to be enjoying themslves at all. We never connect with Liam Neeson's Qui-Con Jinn, and Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi doesn't match the one played by the late, great Alec Guinness. Jake Lloyd can't make us sympathize with the boy that'll eventually grow up to be Darth Vader, and Natalie Portman can't seem to push herself to be Queen Amidala. Probably the only characters who actually enjoy themselves are the entirely-CGIed ones such as Watto and Jar Jar Binks, but the trouble is most moviegoers find Jar Jar so annoying that they really don't care. This also shows that Lucas was probably more interested in the CGI effects than the actual actors. How Star Wars fans see this film is very relative. Some don't mind it and actually like it; others find it a complete blasphemy to the Star Wars mythos (Midichlorians, anyone?). But everyone has to agree that George Lucas made some serious mistakes with this movie and that "Episode I" doesn't even compare to the three original movies. Whether or not "Episode I: The Phantom Menace" is merely a giant preview for the (hopefully) superior "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" we'll have to wait and see. Whether or not "Episode I" is a good movie is all up to you.
Rating:
Summary: No Star Wars film was a character study, folks...
Review: Let's face it: if you were looking for snappy dialogue (well, at least CONSISTENTLY snappy dialogue), deep characterizations and profundity from the first three Star Wars films, you were going to go away disappointed. Ingmar Bergman films they weren't. Star Wars was always meant as high-octane, visually inventive eye candy whose job was to thrill, entertain, and put you squarely in another universe, and "The Phantom Menace" does no less. With the caliber of actors who worked on the movie, it could have been far more character-driven, but the film still works as grand entertainment and a sturdy foundation to the new Star Wars series. "The Phantom Menace" has scenes and set pieces that are so lush, so beautifully conceived and constructed, that you literally ARE transported to another world. The entire Naboo city, for example, is absolutely fabulous - Venice set in another galaxy. Tatooine, though we've been there before, is shown in much greater detail as a place where people literally live in co-existence with a desert. The Gungan city is also extraordinary, and gives us a sense that there's a serious intelligence behind the laconic Gungans that later serves as an important plot device. The action sequences in "The Phantom Menace" are also beautifully conceived and executed, particularly the podrace sequence, which is absolutely thrilling. The various lightsaber battles are done convincingly, and the battle on Naboo between the Gungans and the battle droids - conceived almost entirely on computer - has true epic sweep. So if "The Phantom Menace" succeeds grandly as entertainment, why only three stars? This is because its human factor - actors and characters - fails it. Right off the bat, the character of Anakin deserved a better actor than Jake Lloyd. He's a cute kid, and displays some pluck, but he's utterly unconvincing when it comes to scenes requiring emotional depth. Other young kids have given their characters great depth and believability (witness Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense"), and with Lucas' unlimited budget and resources, it's surprising he made such a poor choice to play Anakin. By the end of the film, I had no idea whatsoever how this kid could grow up to be Darth Vader. Perhaps that's Lucas' intent (it does provide a powerful incentive to see "Episode 2"), but it was extremely unsatisfying dramatically. With the acting talent on display here - Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, for starters - George Lucas could have made this film far deeper character-wise, but he didn't. It seems those big names were chosen for their names, not for what they could do in character. Even Samuel L. Jackson, who rarely seems to blend into anything, seems bemused and bored in this film. Acting woes aside, "The Phantom Menace" does succeed grandly as entertainment and spectacle, and is very much worth seeing. Oh, and yes...I LIKED Jar-Jar.
Rating:
Summary: Well, I liked it...
Review: Let's get one thing straight. I'm not saying this is the best movie I've ever seen - far from it, but I did feel it was a great film, remaining loyal to the Star Wars ethos, and leading old fans and new alike deep into a story, which (espeically after seeing Episode II), is deep and compelling. One thing the die-hard fans of the original are forgetting is that George Lucas's main objective was to lure a new generation of fans with his breathtaking battles, gobsmacking visals and incomphrehensively impressive lightsabre duels (I don't care who you are, you have to admit the final battle was SPECTACULAR). The plot was involving enough, and the acting was of a reasonably good quality. OK, it could have (and, in some people's opinions, should have) been better, but it's good in itself. And maybe that's what people should remember.
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