Rating: 
Summary: Yoda, you look....different
Review: Like most over 19, I was disappointed in Phantom Menace. But what puzzles me most about it -- more than the lack of characterization or drama -- is why Yoda's face was changed. He is a lot uglier with this new face. What was the point of it? To make him look 30 years younger? If anything, he looks older. And anyway, he's supposed to be 800 years old, I think. Would 30 years make any significant difference in his looks, younger or older?
Rating: 
Summary: My Reasons...
Review: Like so many others I waited fingernail biting for many years. Also like many old fans I was left sorely disappointed. Now I kept my expectations relatively low for the new movie-and still it was bad! (Really bad) Most of my friends desperately wanting to keep Lucas venerated had "it was alright/ had some cool effects" to say, only to later join my much stronger "I hated it" stance. I've heard plenty of negative criticism without some specifics, so here are some of the problems with Lucas' blunder as I see them:-THE TARGET AUDIENCE: (it was kids!) Now I know the desire was to keep Star Wars available to all ages, but this failed. The original movies were mature enough in dialogue, mood, and detail to enthrall older ages, yet still accessible to younger ages (Darth is evil). This movie though, is kept accessible to its target audience while neglecting the majority of its fans. -THE COMEDY: (cheap laughs and clowning) In keeping with making a children's movie, Lucas had to ensure that all of the comedy could be understood, therefore physical buffoonery was the only out. Would it have been too much to include some subtle banter (or any verbal comedy) like that found in the other movies? (and capable of entertaining audiences older than twelve). Really though, does anything more need be said than Jar-Jar? I don't think so. -THE VIOLENCE: (can't have the kids see any) Now not that I advocate violence for its own sake, but in this film its a mix of clowning-robot breaking-safety. The first five minutes of A New Hope are more violent then this entire movie- Vader parading over the fallen bodies of the storm troopers and rebels (and this was '77, not the desensitized world of the millennium). Violence can be used as a tool to produce mood, enforce the gravity of a situation, or (as Lucas likes) a chance to have a clown dance around making light of a 'war' (I guess because we wouldn't want our target audience to become upset at all the violence) -SELF-CONTAINED WORLD: (it was not) The movie has placible accents (that are also painful) and connections with the 'real world'- i.e. the steriotypical comentators during the pod race. -THE CHARACTERS: (because I care) The characters and their interactions are boring and cardboard. The enemy is not built up at all. Sure old Mal looked pretty nifty, but what is he? The villain- he dies- oh well, whatever, nice and one sided (after all, the target audience will get it). The same emotional impact is felt when Qui-Gon dies: "oh well". -UNBELIEVABILITY: (suspension of disbelief has limits) Anakin is in his fighter plane, avoids dying, and accidentally shoots what turns out to be integral to the station and thereby winning the battle being 'fought' on the planet. I'm sorry I just couldn't work with it. -ANAKIN"S FOREIGN TOUNGUE: (why? why?) Petty, maybe. Integral to the story, no. Annoying? Hell ya! Whose idea was it to have Anakin speak his rhyming gibberish? Were they going for the 'hey this sounds made up' sound, or the 'are they doing this on purpose?' sound? I apologize for not going into greater detail (because believe me, I could) but these are some of the more prominent problems to a movie that I would plan to watch again only to find all those faults that have been forgotten since seeing during its first week. My conclusion: Lucas has become drunk with success and lost his mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite up to the original trilogy, but still very fun...
Review: Like the bulk of those out there I patiently awaited the next installment to the Star Wars Universe ever since I first learned that there were going to possibly be additional films to the original Episodes 4, 5 & 6 (I think I learned about this sometime between the release of 'Empire' and 'Jedi'). I wasn't a fanatic who waited in line for days or even weeks like some, but I WAS fortunate enough to see it the day before release and as I sat through it, I couldn't help but wonder: 'What is WRONG with the critics?! I LOVE this movie!' I really DID. I think the MAJOR problem that most people had with Episode I was after having waited for so long, many had come up with their OWN ideas of HOW the movie should go, so much so that by the time the movie came out there was NOTHING that could have possibly made them satisfied. With that said, I DID however find one very MAJOR and GLARING error with Episode I: From the earlier movies we discover that Obi Wan was trained as a Jedi BY YODA but for some odd reason George Lucas has decided to alter this established course by having Obi Wan trained by Qui Gon Jin. Now while I enjoyed the character played by Liam Neeson (one of my favorite parts of the entire movie, in fact) I found that deep down I just could not find it in my heart to forgive Lucas for taking such a HUGE departure from his OWN story! Now that being a small (but significant) complaint, I still found the movie visually stunning (how could it NOT be?) but I also feel deep down that the starships of the original trilogy were way more cool than the ones featured in Episode I (did anyone else notice that Princess Amidala's ship looked suspiciously like a silver suped-up version of the SR-71 spy plane?). I am finding myself anxiously waiting for Episode II (due the latter part of May 2002) and I don't CARE what Lucas has in store for us, I am just excited to SEE it.
Rating: 
Summary: A good movie on VHS = 3 stars
Review: Like the movie or not, I was very disappointed with a VHS copy. Even though I only paid $5.00 for it, the scratchy soundtrack and grainy video is exactly why VHS needs to be retired. Instead of taking the initiative Mr. Lucas continues to milk a dying format for more money. I am saddened that Mr. Lucas chooses to showcase his work in this manner and I can only hope that the DVD's will be seen sometime in the next few years.
Rating:
Summary: A let down
Review: Liked it only because I took my seven year to see it, and he loved. No where nearly as endearing and heart warming as the originals. No character development, overly complex plot, many SFX looked they were made on a Video Toaster. Too much backgound action, all marching in unison. Like to put a bullet in Jar-Jar and that old Southern stereotype Negro/TV Asian dialect they made him use. Hopefully Episode 2 will improve.
Rating:
Summary: Wait for the Full Story
Review: Listen, I understand the disappointment that some feel with Episode I. I too left the theater feeling somehow let down, too much special effects, too little storyline. I thought only later to re-think my position. If it could have been done in one movie, it would have. Yes by itself, well it leaves too much unsaid. But any intelligent sentient would have to admit, the special effects alone were worth the cost of admission. With the rest, unseen, the story left undone... it left me with the need more. And yes, I'm unhappy with the wait for Episode II and Episode III. But like fine wine, why rush it? I am happy with the thought that George L. won't let Star Wars fans down, after all, he is the biggest fan ever!
Rating:
Summary: where's the DVD
Review: Lucas and Speilberg make great movies. You would think they would want to present their movies in the best format possible, i.e.-DVD. Why do they resist in bringing out their movies in DVD?
Rating: 
Summary: It's Star Wars, but it doesn't make much sense...
Review: Lucas certainly developed and used a whole horde of new CGI and other special effects technologies in the making of this; it's too bad that the story has so many holes in it. The clear purpose of it is to introduce us to "He Who Shall Become Darth Vader." Unfortunately, rather than creating a cast of characters appropriate to him, it ties huge amounts of the story to the "future" characters. R2D2 and C3PO apparently knew "Darth," as a boy, and he spent some "quality" time on Tatooine. This makes the story of "A New Hope" make a whopping lot _less_ sense. Darth Vader _knows_ the robots; he _knows_ Tatooine; he should even have some bittersweet memories of he and his mother living there. Instead, in IV, he chooses to just _ignore_ all this stuff... Another thing that _really_ irritates me is the whole "Anakin's Mom" part of the story. After Anakin does so much to help out a Princess who RULES A PLANET, they can't imagine the notion of sending back a "Galactic Express" funds transfer to buy his mother out of slavery? The waffling over whether Anakin should get trained seems pretty nonsensical, too; if the Jedi Council is so worried about him getting training, it would make sense for them to actually Do Something. Maybe put him to death due to the danger. (Pretty amoral, but we know, what with Parts IV-VI that he's going to kill a whopping lot of people, and help throw the empire into deadly chaos. Nipping him "in the bud" would be pretty logical.) Or even to just say "We'll keep him around, at the Jedi Academy; he'll get a Special Training Course." (That would _actually_ amount to keeping him under guard...) But instead they propose just tossing him away, right when it's clear that there are Dark Jedi Forces that would doubtless be _fabulously_ interested in such a potentially-powerful apprentice. And the only way Jar Jar is at _all_ forgiveable is if he proves to be some sort of unconscious "Drunken Jedi Master" that hasn't realized who he actually is...
Rating:
Summary: Best produced DVD ever seen
Review: Lucas did not stint when it came to finally putting out a Star Wars DVD. If he had, the fans might have stoned him, after the wait; anyway, this DVD is sleek, with marvelous graphics and features you will keep discovering for a while. The movie itself is hard to review after having seen Episode II, but let's say it is a treat for the eyes and works very well as exposition for the entire Star Wars saga.
Rating:
Summary: Weakest of the series...
Review: Lucas goes bonkers, and just about blows it. Principle flaws of Episode 1...
1) Virgin birth for Anakin. Umm, a virgin slave? get real...
2) Providing a hokey mechanism to explain the force. Worse, one that has a LOT of implications...
a) agency-not just a product of life force, now it is a bunch of microbes with an agenda.
b) if microbes give you power, they would be growing them in Vats.
3) Anakin, a nine year old, not only races BUT builds his vehicle and C-3PO. Right. Unnecesary bolony. Bringing C3po and R2D2 into this first series was unnecasary bolony as well.
4) Jar-Jar. Sure, what we needed was a disney style side kick for comic (albeit racially motivated) laughs. Uncle Remus rides the galactic wave, messuh yessuh three bads cotton full suhhh jar jar binks suhhh!!!)
5)Gee,obviously free trade is evil and best achieved through blockade.
6) Politics simple, to the point of being dumb. A stark contrast with the message of lord of the rings, of the lure of power on good people-who turn to darkness through doing the wrong thing for the right reason...
7) Why are the combat droids not autonomous?
8) Why do the combat droids interact verbally, with overdeveloped military courtesy?
9) Um, a nine year old combat pilot. Right! For a start... Ohh, for a remaster, with no Jar Jar,pod race, etc... A do-over... Sigh. Too bad. The biggest error was taking a story that appealed to all ages and dumbing it down for the under-six crowd. Too bad, ohh too bad.
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