Rating: 
Summary: underappreciated
Review: okay i saw this movie in theaters four times and went to the very first showing and the crowd erupted with applause and cheers at the all familar fox and star wars fanfare.star wars represents unity and that what has excited me..now let us go down the list of what the buzz has said.1) okay if everything was explained in episode one why do we need a two and three...plus don't you people have imagination? i mean it is supposed to attract you to see the other movies ans besides we all know how it ends why do you want everything solved so immediately..i have enjoyed pondering the what if's and ummmmmmm's of te questions this movie has ledt me and have let my imagination run wild until i think that i have it figured out. 2) sure it is not gonna live up to ten years of hype but come on if you take episode one and compare it to episode four i think you have a far more engaging film action wise and you seem to get more invloved....i rememeber i thought luke was too whiney at the beginning but loved him later...so if you quit comparing one film to three then maybe you will see what you have missed. 3) jar jar- was every bit comic relief and enjoyable.so what if he sound jamacian.jamacian accents are cool and it shows use clumsy people that us too can accomplish big feats. 4) many adults did not like this film because of the age of the characters while i admit that is why i did not praticlarly care for jake lloyd...some parts were overacted...i did like natalie portman and hopefully with them older in the next film people will get into there characters more.since people like to go to the movies and lose themselves.. overall the movie was not a let down once i surpassed my own hype and let my imagination once again take control.sure there was some unbelievable stuff but no big deal..in the star wars universe anything goes..do i have questions about contridictions sure..but my faith is on lucas he knows what he is doing...so come on i surpassed my great un realistic expectations can you?
Rating: 
Summary: A bit of a menace
Review: Okay so George made a number of very bad calls with Ep.1 that include: Limited references to the force, Limited use of the force, Not giving us much force and then forcing our patients instead with Jar-Jar and his alien friends. Okay Jar-Jar was not as bad as many had made him out to be. He was a hyper-realistic CGI character and George was also touting us that Ep.1 was just going to be a set-up for the triology and all has been forgiven with Ep.2 which has some of the best Star Wars battle sequences ever seen and is a way darker than this move. Ep.1 is like Ep.2 *lite*. In fact it is lite in nearly every department but the final battle scene is worth the ticket alone. Not a great film by any means but not a total flop either. Ep.1 certainly lowered our expectations for Ep.2 but Ep.2 made up for what this one left out. Ep.3 should be the best of the series with the way things are going but the original still rules them all.
Rating: 
Summary: What we think in Germany...
Review: Okay, disregarding the typical fact that the German version of this movie is a classic sample of incompetent translators, I do not understand why almost everyone seems to hate it across the ocean (that means YOU!). I have to admit that SW E-1 (whose German title would translate into "The Dark Threat" by the way) doesn't spread the same, well, "magic" of the other episodes, but it still remains a good piece of family entertainment. Kids here loved that clumpsy Jar Jar guy (a weird mixture of Indiana Jones and Inspector Clouseau if you ask me) or that two-headed alien from the pod race, whereas older people remembered the time THEIR fathers saw SW E-4 with them. At the bottom line, The Phantom Menace stays a space-based fairy tale with all the necessary ingredients: Good knights, evil sorcerers, nice and not-so-nice monsters, a beautiful princess in distress and the certainty that there will be a happy end. P.S.: The only thing that angers me is the fact that there is no DVD version of this movie, as I would like to see the US-version, too.
Rating:
Summary: in the begining......
Review: Okay, for the last time. Episode I is the first story of the saga. Therefore, it would be foolish-yes, foolish-to believe that it would be the same as the first trilogy. I constantly hear "fans" down the movie mostly because there were no Han Solos or Boba Fetts or Leias walking around. Duh, some of the classic characters weren't even born yet. The movie accomplished it's purpose quite well by telling us where this all started. I for one was excited to see the Jedi Counsel, young Anakin, and Princess Leia's mom. The story was intended to start things off. Some of these plot lines won't be answered until Episode 3 or are already reaveled in the latter three films. All in all, I got goosebumps when I saw Episode I in the theatre and they haven't left yet. Lucas strived for excellence and got it. The DVD features are just the icing on an already scrumptious cake. I love being able to skip to scenes like Queen Amidala's Senate Speech to anything with Darth Maul in it. If you got a DVD this should be in your collection. Do not listen to those naysayers still wearing their Darth Vader UnderRoos hoping that Carrie Fisher will visit them in her iron bra. Listen to true fans like myself who love good storytelling, great effects, and characters that will endure for a lifetime. Trust the Force on this one.
Rating:
Summary: This ISN'T the original Star Wars...
Review: Okay, I grew up on "A New Hope", saw it 9 times in the movie theatre when I was 5, and of course saw the special edition premiere night in New York. But I'm also objective.. the acting in Episode 4 is just as bad, the dialogue is just as cheesey, as anything in Episode I is. What did it for us in 1977 was the saga, the special effects, and the subtle humor that was inherent in the film. In Episode I, Lucas does include the same elements, as well as a very similar plot line, as the original Star Wars was. The special effects were dazzeling, the action was fast, and there was a deeper dimention of political intrigue not present in the original trilogy. Also, unlike the original trilogy, in which 3 no-name actors, rough around the edges, churned cheesey dialogue, in episode I we have two seasoned actors, Liam Neesen and Ewan McGregor (with a brief appearance of Samuel L. Jackson - whom I look forward to seeing more of in Episodes 2 & 3), who hold their own. Remember how much better the acting seemed in Empire Strikes Back and Jedi? Do not go in expecting the original Star Wars. If you do, you will be disappointed... the raw quality of a new kind of technology and "space saga" is not there. But it is a spectacular event nonetheless, and i recommend it heartily. By The way... buy the widescreen edition.. from what I understand it was duplicated in better quality than the regular VHS.
Rating:
Summary: This was supposed to be an EPIC....a SAGA
Review: Okay, I saw the previews for this movie quite a few times. A saw the scene previews on MTV. All of them looked incredible, the effects and the scale of the movie looked outstanding. This was going to be a movie where you went in, and came out and went "Oh my god, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen." That said, the film doesn't do that. It's supposed to be an epic story, a saga. A very rich story like it is in the original Star Wars. It should have been as powerful as those, but with modern effects and an enourmous budget. Instead, the thing is FULL of corny lines. Jar Jar Binks is the worst addition to the saga EVER. He is there only as an appeal to young kids. It's so blatently obvious that it's embarrasing to watch. I'm 15, and I've been a Star Wars fan for a long, long time. I read all the books and really got in to it. When the next episode finally came out, I was hopeing to see it be amazing. I wanted to go in and come out with the reaction I said above. Instead I came out and said, "Heh, that was kinda dumb." Seeing a dumb character step in poo (twice) and say things like exqueeze me is NOT Star Wars. Nor is watching little kids accidently blow up a ship by accidently flying into it, while saying things like "Whoa, this is tense!" That is NOT Star Wars, that's corny and really, really shallow wrighting. Bottom line, this movie should have been extraordinary. The fans who waited in line to see this for days didn't come to see Jar Jar or Anakin be dumb and cute. They came to see Star Wars. This stuff is really a dissapointment. But, I gave it three stars because the music is outstanding and the battles and all the effects are increadible. The Droids vs. the Gungans was really cool, but it's ruined by making Jar Jar (who has no clue what he's doing...how is he a general? IT MAKES NO SENSE) accidently kill some driods by accidently letting loose the Gungan's bombs. The Pod race was SUPERBLY done. The three-way lightsaber battle was EXCEPTIONAL. This stuff IS star wars. The Jedi council, the senate and that stuff was good too. These things manage to save the movie, but not enough. We can only hope that the next one will be a better movie.
Rating:
Summary: Obviously expectation were to high....
Review: Okay, I saw this movie three times at the theater. The first time, as with most people I know, I was a bit disappointed and hated Jar Jar. The second time, after trying to see 'the big picture', I took it for what it was, the beginning of an epic tale. I even semi-tolerated Jar Jar. The third time I picked it apart piece by piece trying to understand exactly what we were being set up for. I even kinda liked Jar Jar this time, even bought a Jar Jar poster for my daughters wall :) What I've come to conclude is that even though I liked the movie, it's a tale that could've been told in about 45 minutes. There's so much more that could've been included to thicken the plot and give the movie a little beef. Indeed, it was a bit thin. However, I'm judging this on the other Star Wars movies. I tried putting myself in the situation of "what if". Meaning, what if there was no other Star Wars movies. What if this was a complete first time original. Would it still go over? Would it still warrant a sequel? If there wasn't a huge fan base already would it have been a flop? I honestly don't think so. It would've been a completly original movie, and although a bit slow, have huge potential for a sequel. I think I would have liked it still, maybe more then I do now. I'm sure I'll watch this move 20 or more times in my life, maybe more if they ever release a DVD. Other movies in the same genre, however, released kinda around the same time as Episode 1, like Lost in Space and Wing Commander, I can honestly say I care not to see again, and I'm pretty easy to please. As with others, my expectation were a little high, but in the end it's a good popcorn eating movie with tons of eye candy, and a good waste of a couple of hours. Can't wait until the next one...
Rating:
Summary: A substantial disappointment....
Review: Okay, I was just like everyone else--I wanted to see this movie really really badly. So I did. And at first I thought it was great! But later, I realized how very childish this movie is. Sure, the visual effects were nice, and the pod race was cool, but the visuals can't compare with The Matrix. Also, Jar Jar Binks and Boss Nass are a very unwelcome addition, with their very eyeball-rolling senses of humor. And the plot wasn't very clever either. It's really pretty hard to relate this movie to the Trilogy. If you're anyone under 13 (as I was when I saw it), you should like at the very least like it, as long as you don't expect it to be like the old Star Wars. But if you are an adult who is a big fan of the Trilogy, avoid The Phantom Menace at all costs. Rated PG, for sci-fi action and violence, not much else, really everyone should be allowed to see it. But the question remains: does EVERYONE really WANT TO?
Rating:
Summary: Lucas the producer should've fired Lucas the writer-director
Review: Okay, I won't argue with anyone who says that this is a mediocre installment in the STAR WARS cycle. Yes, I agree with those who would love to see Jar Jar Binks fried in a nuclear reactor. But after pondering this movie long and hard and weighing it in comparison to the other "episodes," I have to come to the conclusion that it's a slightly paler version of the very first STAR WARS movie released long, long ago in two-and-a-half decades far, far away. Meaning that, IMHO, had "The Phantom Menace" been released in 1977 and "A New Hope" come out in 1999, the chances are pretty good that we'd be saying the latter film was the stinker while the former was the new, exciting film masterpiece of sort-of science fiction. What's the common denominator? George Lucas wrote and directed both these installments. Look, you can love the STAR WARS mythos all you want and only a grinch would say that George Lucas doesn't have a vivid imagination. What he also has is a tin ear for scripted dialogue, an inability to craft an engaging narrative and a love of style that crushes substance. There's a reason why "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Return Of The Jedi" work as well as they do. Irwin Kirschner, Richard Marquand, Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan were able to give flesh and blood to Lucas' cosmos and MAKE YOU CARE ABOUT IT. After getting past the "golly gee" aspects of the "A New Hope" that so wowed us all in 1977, only an apologist would be unable to admit that the dialogue was flat and corny beyond belief and that the only reason the acting wasn't equally as bad is that Sir Alec Guinness, Harrison Ford and Peter Cushing wouldn't allow it to be. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher improved phenomenally once Kirschner and Marquand were at the helm; in the first movie, they were as one-dimensional as Jason Lloyd and Natalie Portman are in this one. All by way of saying that, his baby or not, George Lucas should've stuck with laying out the concept and let others do the heavy lifting on this movie. He ain't got what it takes as either a writer or a director, at least not as a director of ACTORS (He's pretty good with animated creations, I must confess). That said, "The Phantom Menace" is an entertaining if not extraordinary two-plus hours. The high-tech hijinx certainly is where Lucas feels most at home and those parts of the film (such as the race on Tatooine) are exciting to watch. But, see, so was the battle at the location of the Death Star in the first film. Lucas does all that stuff just great; it's with directing people that he screws up. Maybe he should tag-direct with another director, say, an Anthony Minghella or a Sam Mendes. Then maybe this leg of the STAR WARS cycle would have some of the heft of the previous one. The present set-up doesn't work. Finally, it's telling that the last film Lucas did that concentrated on people---and WORKED!---was "American Graffitti," almost thirty years old. It had a small budget, was shot in about a month-and-a-half and still does a brisk business. Think about it, George.
Rating:
Summary: Jar Jar ruins it big time
Review: Okay, I'd like to know what they were thinking (or taking) when they created the character Jar Jar Binks. JJB ruins the film. It could have been 5/5 without JJB. I heard there's an unauthorized DVD version out there that edits out that nincompoop. Let me know, I'd buy that one instead.
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