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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: 4 stars
Summary: Perfect for the kids, what more needs to be said?
Review: After reading dozens of disgruntled fans rip the film, I have to remind everbody that: 1)The orginal star wars trilogy features some of the cheesiest dialogue and acting in film (even hard core fans agree with this one) 2)Star Wars has always been know for its "eye candy" i.e. revolutionary special effects, not its writing or character interplay.

But of course, all of these fans have forgotten these points, and dissect and over analyse the new star wars film as if it was the second coming of Shakespear. Bottom line: George's target audience was 10 year old boys (just like the original trilogy) not grown adults. My kids loved it. It had flashy visuals just like the original trilogy (and lousy acting like the original trilogy). Anyone who thinks that Star Wars is "American mythology", or is primarily intended for 30 year olds, needs to get a life. Its a kids movie, pure and simple. Remember: If you want a sophisticated plot with gripping drama, watch star trek. If you want lavish special effects and intense action, watch star wars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Here's my two cents worth!
Review: After reading several of the 2032 reviews of The Phantom Menace I can see where the purist would find this movie disappointing. But allow me to present an alternative view.

I recently bought this tape for my son and after watching it I was reminded of what attracted my generation to the Star Wars phenomenon in the first place; it is a fantastically fun film series that has never failed to excite us and keep us on the edge of our seats!

It took watching the wonderment on my 8 year old's face to make me cognizant of the fact that this movie makes no claim on having any greater depth of meaning than what you see. Annakin Skywalker by far steals the show, along with the sometimes irksome Jar-Jar Binks.

My advice to you if you have been hesitating to watch this, or any of the other "sequels" is to go ahead and do it! You won't be disappointed if you can keep in mind why you fell in love with George Lucas' work in the first place.

But if you want to be like so many of the 2000+ reviewers and take a foray into the world of pedantry, looking for some deep cosmic, esoteric significance in every nook and cranny of the film, you will indeed be disappointed.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What a bunch of *****
Review: After reading the reviews here, it seems to me that a bunch of Star Wars geeks decided to give their collective 2 cents and conspired to give a bunch of 5 stars just to boost the ratings up. But even the most ardent Lucas freak has to admit that this installment of our favorite saga is weak, frought with annoying, shallow characters, a thin as Ally McBeal plot, and special effects that only seem to serve to distract from how awful this film really is. The original trilogy used special effects to complement and add a dramatic touch to the action (crude as they look today). However, in "Menace" the technology overwhelms the film (not to mention the characters and the plot) to the point where the viewer feels as if Lucas intended the special effects to sustain the movie. After a while it seems to be, in the words of a local publication, "One long Toys R Us commercial". C'mon now, you REALLY, HONESTLY, think this is a great movie? I think many people who have written reviews are simply blinded by their idolatry of Mr. Lucas, or they just can't admit that all that waiting in line and counting down the days until the movie's premiere was just a WASTE OF ENERGY AND TIME- JUST LIKE THIS MOVIE. Sentimentality, I'm sure, also has alot to do with the high ratings- if you grew up like me mesmerized by the originals (not to mention the merchandise), then you hate to admit that your fond memories of a wonderful cinematic experience are bastardized and reduced to this mindless repackaging job that has no refernce to what you originally saw years ago. Please Star Wars fans- admit that you can't go home again and replay the original trilogy-- maybe it will make Mr. Lucas reconsider continuing this farce.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Really Disappointing Movie
Review: After seeing the first Star Wars, then the next two installments I must say I was really let down by this movie. Lots of special effects but no clear plot really left me wondering why I even bothered. Plus there were so many things going on, I felt overloaded with information but couldn't figure out what it applied to. This is only for the die hard Star Wars fans.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: needs a han solo type to make it fun
Review: after seeing the first two star war movies i was naturally excited when return of the jedi was released. it was a dissapointment.
the ewok thing reeked of the next merchandising line, the actors were visually tired of making the movies and it showed in their performances, lucas and team both copped out and extended the soap opera quality by revealing lea to be lukes sister (you cant let one of the heroes go away without the girl, so we'll make the girl luke's long lost sister) and the whole conversion of vader seemed phony.
star wars and the even better empire were great fun, but return seemed to show the idea had been played out.
i was one of the few who was not excited when it was announced that a prequal trilogy was coming.
this film proved my misgivings were correct.
what makes the first 2 star wars movies nicely balanced is the presence of han solo. luke is a bit too sullen, too religious, too serious. the fun errol flynn like han solo balances this out.
but the prequals are star wars without a han type at all. its all luke; religiousley serious and a bit bland.
that said the movie does have a few decent moments, most notably the ben hur like race and the wwf type (and way too brief)darth maul.
in retrospect i recall pauline kael's review of star wars and she warned that this was a bad new trend in hollywood.
she lamented the slickness, the empty headed, overblown fx.
in many ways i agree with her. but, i also know that the first two movies, like his american grafitti, were indeed fun.
perhaps lucas had kael in mind when he made this but if he did, he certainly approached it from the least interesting angle that was in the first.
this movie is as pressed and clean as lukes white coat, it needs the dirt and roughness of han's vest
or, perhaps its just been too long since he actually directed a movie, but regardless, i havent seen the second prequal and wont bother to.
i'll cherish the memory of star wars and empire strikes back

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: SIGH
Review: After seeing the original series I hated Episode I the first time around. The special effects were wonderful and so were the sets and many*** of the creatures who inhabited this world. But the characterizations were dull and the acting was wooden. The plot was darn near incomprehensible.

But when I saw Episode I for the second time, on PPV, I noticed the music and sound effects were overwhelming the dialogue, so I turned on closed-captioning and voila! I could understand both dialogue and plot. Unfortunately the newly decipherable story was pretty lame - way too 'talky' and far too long. I think Lucas could have cut this by 30 minutes without hurting it a bit, but then where would he have had a place to hang all the effects and new species?

***[Except for Jar-Jar Binks, who drove me nuts with that phony-Caribbean lingo and other affectations that would have been racist if this had been a human creature]

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice DVD but I was expecting more...
Review: After so long to have this DVD launched, I do admit I was overexcited about its features. It is just an ordinary DVD with some features that any other movie would come with.
It is only worth it for the movie, not for the extras.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not original
Review: After the original Star Wars movies to me this one didn't compare. The originals had humor and action, but this one wasn't funny. People who weren't brought up with Star Wars thought it was funny but to those who used to dress up as Princess Liea and Luke Skywalker it wasn't humoress at all. The only thing I liked was that it had a lot of imagination and creativity.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The saga begins...
Review: After three terrific Star Wars movies comes the new Episode I. It is certainly not as good as the originals but worth some viewings. Liam Neeson is excellent as Qui Gon Jinn but his sidekick Ewan Gregor is not all that great. The lightsaber fight was spectacular between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Qui Gon Jinn. Darth Maul himself was really cool. The double bladed lightsaber was a very nice touch. The battle droids were cool but can't compare to stormtroopers, just as the Trade Federation can't compare to the Galactic Empire and Nute Gunray can't compare to Darth Vader. I also liked Vader better than Maul. The space fight was a bit of a joke. All you saw was little Anakin talking to Artoo. The rest was good. But if you want to see a REAL space battle, check out Return of the Jedi. There also weren't to many fight scenes except the one between the Gungans and the battle droids. For example, there is a great battle on Endor during Return of the Jedi and an awesome battle on the ice planet Hoth between Rebels and Imperial AT-AT walkers in The Empire Strikes Back. The cast in the originals were way better. Some of the actors and actesses who were great were Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Billy Dee Williams. Though Episode I is good, the others are better. My favorite is The Empire Strikes Back.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Overated and Over-hyped in advertising - still an okay movie
Review: After viewing the movie in the Theatre, and yes I will purchase on VHS to complete my Star Wars Video Collection, I must say the movie was overated and over-hyped in the media for advertising, etc. It can never take the place of the thrill and excitement of the "original" Star Wars nor did it come close. There were good fight scenes and good effects but I felt disconnected from the characters. I'm sure you will enjoy this movie as a good average SCI-FI movie but it's not on the same level as the original Star Wars - so don't get your hopes up.


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