Rating: 
Summary: A film critic you are, yesss. A jedi crave not these people
Review: To start, 1 word, AMAZING. Perfect? Of course not, but neither were the other 3 by themselve. See them all at once, and you have a compelling, complete story. Much like Episode 1, it is part of a trilogy. For those who say they are "TRUE" Star Wars fans, and disliked Ep1, they are full of Bantha Poodoo, fans you are not. I believe if you see ths film as what it is, groundwork for the next 2 movies, it sets the stage perfectly. What is the event that makes Anikin turn to the dark side? What are the motives of Palpatine? Where did all the Jedi go? And on, and on. I think people go into this film wanting to hate it. Wanting to disect it, and dislike it for petty reasons. "Darth Maul wasn't in it enough", niether was vader in Ep4. "Jar Jar is just comic relief", so was C3-P0 in all the other films. "The plot is terrible and incomplete", watch Empire Strikes Back, by itself, very, VERY, incomplete. It will never replace the original 3, only complement them. Ask yourself this, if I never seen Ep4 - Ep6. Would I hate Ep1 as much? I think not, sure it had flaws. And yes, it was far from perfect. But worst film of the year? No. And if it was sooo horrible, why is it the 4th highest grossing film of all time? If you are looking for high quality acting, sorry, it isn't in the spirt of Star Wars to be polished. Visually stunning? Very. Cheezy? At times. Should you see/buy this film? Definately. Just too bad we have 4 years to wait to see how it all ends....
Rating:
Summary: Creating a Backdrop for movies that have already come
Review: To summarize in advance: "The Phantom Menace" is a richly nuanced movie that can only be appreciated fully over the course of several viewings. Here's why:It is difficult to imagine a task more difficult than the one George Lucas undertook with "The Phantom Menace". After creating one of the richest and popular science fiction universes to appear on film or in print (three of the most popular movies of all time and dozens of supplementary novels), he undertakes to show us how that universe came to be. How did the father of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo become Darth Vader? Who was their mother and what ever happened to her? How was it that a republic that had stood for thousands of years succumb to the machinations of an "evil emperor" and become the "empire"? The answers to such questions are not likely to be any simpler than the historical paths that turned the Wiemar Republic into Nazi Germany, and to the dissapointment of many viewers, George Lucas does succumb to the easy path and deliver simple answers. Every movie in the Star Wars saga is different. The young heros of "A New Hope" stumble, again and again, from a bad situation to worse as the "Empire" attempts its final consolidation of power. "The Empire Strikes Back" is a tale of survival as the Emperor figures out what foiled that consolidation and attempts to turn that situation to advantage. "The Return of the Jedi" is a tale of complex and intersecting plans on a collision course that ends in the climatic undoing of the Emperor's schemes and the redemption of Luke Skywalkers father. "The Phantom Menace" is the multilayered beginning of the events that make those movies possible, and is impossible to fully appreciate with a single viewing. We meet the young Darth Vader when he is still a good, wide-eyed and optimistic boy, but a boy unlike any the "Jedi-order" has ever encountered before. We meet his mother, enigmatic "There is no father" led some to (I think inaccurately) make "Virgin Mother" allusions when the nuances of her statement suggest a great deal more. We meet the future emporer while he is still a Republic senator, watch him create a political crisis ("The Phantom Menace") out of nothing (when is any bureaucracy efficient or completelly free of corruption), and then turn that into vastly enhanced political power (literally the beginning of the emperor's rule). All these introductions and machinations come with a price that "A New Hope" never had to pay. Detail and Nuance matter, and there is ultimately too much movie. Faced with some of the same problems in "A New Hope", George Lucas turned it into three movies. Having already laid out the movies that follow from "The Phantom Menace", he turned instead to cuts that are sometimes so tight you don't hear things the first time you see the movie. The screen is so rich with image that you simply don't see things that really matter the first time through. The movie improves with every viewing, and so long as the smaller screen and revised format doesn't rob us of the detail, it will improve with each viewing on VideoTape. I believe that time will be much kinder to this movie than the critics were to its initial release, and I certainly recommend both it and the novelization (which complement each other nicely) to all.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent work George Lucas!
Review: To tell the truth, I did not expect that George Lucas will make DVD till 2005. When I have seen the announcement on this disk, I have not believed the eyes. What I can tell about it DVD? Work on creation of a disk has gone right. Fine video, an excellent sound, good comments. It is looked on one breath.
Rating: 
Summary: To those it may concern...
Review: To those of you who can actually enjoy pathetic acting, an idiotic storyline, bad directing, and bad editing (that's just the tip of the iceberg, however) this film is most definitely for you. Directly from the start, with the "bad guys" who look like some form of mutant insect and talk as if they've just stepped off the set of "Barney Meets the Power Rangers," this film took a steep nosedive. Two of the only redeeming aspects of this entire film are 1) the musical score playing in the background, and 2) good special effects; and even both of those, when used improperly, can be infuriating. Take the latter example, for instance. The special effects are good, certainly, but Lucas uses them to the point of insanity. They are, simply put, too much. Another major mistake Lucas made was casting Jake Lloyd as Darth Vader's previous self. Jake Lloyd stumbles through his lines as does the rest of the cast, creating an ugly and embarrasing atmosphere. Lucas deserves a swift kick in the seat of his pants for this atrocity.
Rating:
Summary: BAD BOX QUALITY
Review: Today my Star Wars DVD broken at midlle just when i put my DVD back on case the material used in the the middle of the box it's too Hard.
i have very caution with my DVD's almost 100
and i never had a trouble like this before.
if you wanna buy it go ahead, but don't forget to change the box
Rating: 
Summary: It sucked
Review: too many effects and not enough work on the actual story...maybe its just a kids movie but for true fans i hope the next two get a lot better
Rating:
Summary: not as good as I thought it would be
Review: Too much kidstuff. Lucas lost his edge with this one. Special effects are cool, but a little too much for me. Jar-Jar was annoying, the kid is annoying, the race scene was cheesy. I could go on, but I won't.
Rating:
Summary: If I could have, I would have rated this movie a -5 stars.
Review: Totally unbelievable from the start. The era was supposed tohave been before the first three episodes and yet the robotics weremore advanced and prevalent in this movie than in the former three movies. And what is with their stupid "roger roger" response to everything. The movie is superficial and lackluster, with none of the depth and sheer enjoyment of the former three. I had looked forward with great anticipation to seeing it, only to be extremely irritated. I almost walked out of the theatre halfway through it. I will buy this on dvd, when it comes out, because I plan to have all of the series as a collection, and I don't want to be missing part of it. Other than for that reason, I would not buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars Episode One - The Phantom Menace
Review: TPM is a great movie! The only problem I have is with Jake Lloyd's lines. They could not possibly have been any more unrealistic. "Yippeee?" "This is tense?" Please! It has a very good detailed and in depth plot. You just have to saee it a few times to fully understand. I thought Jar-Jar was not as good as Chewbacca, but he is okay. I'd say that it is 3rd best out of 4, RTJ being the worst. The Ewoks are in the same annoying class as Jar-Jar. What was Lucas thinking. Also, the VHS quality is appalling. I do not have a DVD player, but still can see that the picture quality was terribly inferior to other VHS movies. I think Lucas purposely made the VHS tapes poor quality, so everyone who has already bought the VHS version will definitely buy the DVD version if it ever comes out, and he will make the money twice.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent, Not what you might expect.
Review: TPM isn't a bad movie, but not a particularly awesome one either. The special effects are excellent, but they don't make up for the bad screenwriting and under-average directing. The lack of character development was probably the biggest letdown. Even though having some of the best actors like Natalie Portman and Liam Neeson, the characters had no chemistry. Still, the movie was entertaining and graphically pleasing. It could have been a lot better, but i still think it's worth it to buy the video. Classic trilogy SW fans won't be totally pleased with Episode 1, but it's still a decent movie to see.
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