Rating: 
Summary: George Lucas Falls Down Hard in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Review: The common theme running through George Lucas' work is visual genius marked by artistic laziness. Like most geniuses, Lucas works best within a limited palette of expertise. If you want stunning visuals and bombastic sound, he's your man. If you want a storyline with some level of sophistication beyond Saturday morning cartoons, it's best to look elsewhere. Star Wars fans (and I consider myself one) can whine all they want, but childishness is an inherent part of Lucas' cinematic ouevre. Whenever Lucas steps away from the controls and lets someone else drive the plot, the results are as amazing as "The Empire Strikes Back", the hands-down favorite of most Star Wars fans. When George is actively engaged in the script, we get dreck like the Ewoks and Phantom Menace's Jar Jar Binks. "Episode I-The Phantom Menace" could never live up to its prerelease hype in any event, but with Lucas firmly in command the movie is even more execrable than may otherwise have been the case. How bad is it? - The incoherent plot involves some nonsense about interstellar trade regulations - The Force, previously a kind of New Age mysticism, now seemingly stems from a parasitic infection - The main force for good is a 14-year old "elected queen" of a planet named Naboo, of all things, who spends much of the movie in Kabuki makeup speaking in desultory monotone - The villain never speaks a word, and seemingly exists for the sole purpose of having a lightsaber duel with two of the heroes - A major character actually chooses slavery over freedom, mainly as a cheap way to write her out of subsequent scenes - Unlike Luke Skywalker, who had a painful and awkward apprenticeship before emergind as a full-blown hero in "Return of the Jedi", Anakin Skywalker is invincible from the word go, despite being only 9 years old The movie is a colossal disappointment, and not just due to the inflated expectations of fans. While a number of the visuals are simply stunning, the plot is a total mess, which substantially undermines the movie's impact. The final victory comes so cheaply and ridiculously as to serve as a sort of parody of the first film (imagine Luke destroying the Death Star in a Landspeeder while on the way to Tachi Station to look at some power convertors and you'll see what I mean). Fans hope against hope that the second installment will counter this trend and restore some sense of menace to the series. Unfortunately, this installment is to be the love story, and if Lucas handles it as childishly as the "Phantom Menace", fans hearts will be the only ones broken. Again.
Rating: 
Summary: The force is with this 2 disc DVD set
Review: The coolest light sabre battles on film to date. The R2 Units in an extravehicular repair... The pod race.... These moments are truly awesome. Much has been written of this film, much more than it deserves. After all, its just a movie. Taken as a stand alone film (outside of the Classic Star Wars series), I'd take this film over 90% of the action adventure claptrap we get. But place it in with THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and its weaknesses are apparent. Firstly, its hard to tell what the story is about. Oh, sure, we know what the series is about, but this story on its own rambles between Qui Gon, Obi Wan and Young Annikan (Jake Lloyd in a slightly annoying child's performance). Plot matters. Outside of the plot, many of the set pieces are amazing. But, none will ever match up to the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK AT-AT attack on the winter base on Hoth. The Pod Race is well done but looks like a "driving" video game, without INSERT COIN(S) flashing on screen. Yoda, by muppet master Frank Oz is back and is still the best special effect in the film. Jar Jar Binks, a new completely computer generated character premieres with this film and is well accomplished. But, he is focused (as is this film) on the younger set so annoyed many an adult. Evil is strongly represented by the too infrequent Darth Maul. His performance and the best light sabre battle to date stand out as high points of the film. But, how does this film fit in our cultural psyche? After watching Star Wars for the first time, I was immediately able to draw film elements all over my school folders. (ie Darth Vader, R2-D2, Threepio, The Tie Fighters, The Death Star, X-Wings, etc...) I have since seen Episode 1 several times and still cannot describe the robot driven ships in the final attack. Hopefully, we will be more fulfilled with EPISODE 2. But, the great news is that this DVD set actually improves your opinion of the film. Firstly, there is a hour long documentary called "The Beginning" that is frankly paced better and morew exciting than the film it documents. It is filled with great behind the scenes footage that doesn't all seem like press release footage. That is awesome. There is also a heartfelt but not amazing audio commentary by auteur George Lucas. Also included are fully restored and reconstructed cut scenes that are not huge in added value but cool efforts and much appreciated. Great Sound, Great Video master. A great DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: I want my DVD.
Review: The debate rages on -- the movie was awful, the movie was great, it was better than Jedi, it was worse than Jedi, it's too childish, it's too commercial -- whatever. Personally, I believe the first trilogy were children's movies as well, but that fact was disguised by the absence of children as characters and revealed with young Anakin. Complaining that this incarnation lacks the depth of the originals is like complaining that the Power Rangers aren't as deep as the Ninja Turtles were. These movies are eye-candy and escape, and Episode I doesn't disappoint in either category. The reason for the three stars is Lucas' mercenary merchandising. Thirty dollars is too much to pay for a VHS tape, even if it has a little booklet with it. C'mon Lucas, give the people what they want: A two-disc DVD with deleted scenes, director's commentary, and an option to digitally remove Jar-Jar.
Rating: 
Summary: Deleted scenes worth the wait
Review: The deleted scenes were great. I think the fact that the sound is THX more than makes up for the fact that the disc is not DTS. I think Lucas will not do a DTS version. As for the commentary by the director. This is worth it's weight in gold to see the true ideas behind the Menace. The making of the movie featurette was awesome. I think if you bought this movie soley on the merits of just the movie, you should just keep the VHS version. DVD is a spectacular way to deliver not just the movie, but also the thought process behind it. I was extremely pleased with this. I think anyone who really takes the time to rip it apart because it was not the movie you wanted to see when it was first released in theatres, will be more than pleased when ATOC is released next spring.
Rating:
Summary: Great DVD
Review: The DVD as many reviewers have stated here is great in the feature department. I lot of goodies for people that enjoy how a film is put together. Excellent commentary features and the DVD web exclusive feature also good. The film itself was not bad but everyone has pointed out the horrible parts already so i won't go over that again. One final note even the menu selection is very cool too.
Rating:
Summary: Great DVD for a not-so-great movie
Review: The DVD for this movie is amazing, but the movie itself lagged. Until someday when they could touch up this movie in the weak spots, I just won't be able to get into this movie. Jar Jar was a waste of space who did nothing but bumble and mess up every scene he was in. I mean look at the Gungan battle, it looks lame compared to the Hoth battle. The space battle in TPM looks even worse compared to the classic attacks on the Death Star. A little 9 year old kid accidentally gets into the control ship and accidentally blows it up and gets out on time, give me a break. The podrace was pretty good, but then again the english speaking podrace announcer had to mess it up with cheap gags and comic relief. Please GL, no more "Ex-squeeze me", "How rude", "Yippeee", and things like that. I wish they could take out Jar Jar's clumsyness and luck in the Gungan battle and the little childish sayings and Anakin's accidental blow up of the ship and the movie would be fine. The lightsaber duel ROCKED!!
Rating: 
Summary: avoid it at all costs
Review: the dvd has lots of good extras, but the movie itself is not good. I give it one star because too many people gave 5 stars, which is totally absurd.
Rating:
Summary: best of episode 1
Review: the dvd is great, full of deleted scenes includeing some in the final movie not seen in theatres or on vhs tapes, extra long pod race start, lap 2 of race, and a air taxi scene in corasunt are good scenes in the movie. all who love star wars need this dvd
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular Snooze
Review: The DVD is the first time I've seen this movie. Honestly, I fell asleep. This is not the sign of a good film. I keep hearing about how great the extras on the 2nd disk are but, who cares when the movie was this dull? Why would I want to see them? I think part of the problem was Lucas and team tried too hard to keep everyone happy and, in doing so, made no one happy. I would willingly pass on special effects and odd-looking aliens if I could get a bit of story.
Rating:
Summary: The saga had to start somewhere!
Review: The DVD itself has plenty of things packed into it. The movie; I thought it was a very good movie. I did initially watch it a couple times at the theater with my family. It took a couple viewings to begin to understand what Jar Jar was saying. Overall though, I think The Phantom Menace is a very good movie, especially with the light sabre battle between Obi Wan, Qui Gon and Darth Maul. Believable and stunning.
| 
