Rating: 
Summary: the best movie of the millenium
Review: I can't believe it, George Lucas has done it again! Impressives and gorgeous effects,awesome music, thank you George!. The most complete sci-fiction movie ever, this one's just has it all. I got the widescreen edition and it just blows my mind every time that i see it.P.S. sorry for my poor english, but my native tongue is spanish
Rating:
Summary: A fresh new dimension in the world of star wars
Review: I can't believe people when I hear the words: "Worst episode ever" "Complete failure" "Above average" The Phantom Menace deals with many different issues that were not so important in the sequels: especially politics, intrigue, corruption all these made the movie so much more interesting. It made the whole story close to reality, how often insignificant events culminate in gigantic proportions. This movie is the one to watch. It has action, adventure and a whole new feel. If you are a fan or not, you have to own this (DVD or video version) It will provide hours of entertainment and edge-of-the-seat action.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't believe this...
Review: I can't believe that the most eagerly awaited movie of all time is such a waste of your time, everyone thought that it was going to be almost a religious experience, something close to what the first three movies (ROTJ weakest but it had it's high points). This is the movie that had the potential to beat Titanic from the #1 position, this was going to be something historical, something to be remembered, but nope, Lucas probably gave his old ideas from the 70s to someone to write the script for him, he filmed it and later sent it to his team at ILM, and guess what something mutated with muppets movies, star wars and Roger Rabbit came out, dissapointed millions of fans and made little kids crazy for stupid characters.
Rating: 
Summary: It's Lucas's Film!
Review: I can't believe the amount of people saying Episode 1 wasn't a true Star Wars flick. The qualifications for a true Star Wars film are Simple; 1: It Says "Star Wars" at the beginning, and 2: It says "George Lucas" at the end. Jar-Jar or no Jar-Jar, cartoonish or not, Lucas made another Star Wars movie and it was a good one.
Rating:
Summary: Can you believe what people are saying?
Review: I can't believe what some people are saying about this movie. I thought it was excellent. The plot was well developed, and fascinating. Star Wars fans have been waiting for this for years, have been, in my opinion, rewarded with a wonderful film. It was so neat, experiencing Star Wars the way our parents must have, seeing it for the very first time. I especially loved learning about the Jedi Temple. There are whole new worlds to learn about. Even Tatooine, which we know from the first trilogy gains a new depth. My favorite was Naboo, with it's fabulous cities and wldlife. Congratulations to whoever thought up and created the costumes and hairdos for Amidala. They deserve a standing ovation. I hope you get a chance to see this movie. Don't let the bad reputation of Jar Jar Binks keeep you from enjoying this film.
Rating:
Summary: Wow. You gotta be kidding me.
Review: I can't even believe that this is part of the Star Wars trilogy! I am not a big Star Wars fan. In fact, I don't really like it that much. But that didn't keep me from seeing this movie. I saw it and I wasn't suprised. I really didn't like the other star wars movies, they were ok, but this one was really bad. Damn! I probally won't see the next movie in this trilogy. And how long did it take Fox to release it on DVD? Two years?
Rating: 
Summary: A New Hope... for the future?
Review: I can't honestly say this was the worst movie of all time, but I truly was dissapointed with it. I'm sure everyone's tired of hearing about how bad the JarJar Binks character was, but on the other hand, maybe George will ditch him for something less marketable and more personable in the next two movies. Also dissapointing was the overabundance of CG animation. No matter how impressive computers are nowadays, it's still incredibley hard to fool the human eye, and Mr. Lucas actually did a better job scavenging battleship models and using puppets to create his special effects in the first trilogy. This movie wasn't a total loss however. The droids remained unchanged, and Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor are well on their way to making memorable characters. With a little work, they might become a little more identifiable as heroes.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to Hate
Review: I can't imagine anything harder than following up a legend. But this is exactly what George Lucas charged himself with when he at last decided to undertake the creation of the prequels to Star Wars, one of the most beloved films of all time. Following the young life trials and tribulations of Anakin Skywalker (whom we know to later become Darth Vader), The Phantom Menace reintroduces us to the themes of the original trilogy, and gives us some background on themes we knew little about. One of the more interesting issues here is how Lucas ties in little bits and pieces of the Star Wars universe we know to this new, improved version (visually at least). Sorely missing from Menace are the lovable character personalities we know from the original trilogy. Qui-Gon, played by Liam Neeson, is about as cardboard-y as they come, and young Annakin proves to be more annoying than cute. His "gee-whizziness" would be more at home in a 1950's Disney flick, and I echo the sentiment of many of my friends who feel Lucas could have casted a greater young talent along the lines of Haley Joel Osment (sp?) of The Sixth Sense. Still, Ewan McGregor is excellent as a younger Obi Wan Kenobi, and even imitates the voice of the late, great Sir Alec Guiness beautifully. Natalie Portman as Queen Amadala is at once regal and beautiful to watch, if her accents are a bit on the goofy side. Visually, Menace is the most stunning movie ever to come out of Hollywood. The effects are indescribably fantastic, better even than those in The Matrix, which actually won the Academy Award for Visual Effects. Also well done were the costumes, which were all but snubbed by the Academy, despite being the most original offering for 1999. A tremendous score by John Williams rounds out a fun movie that carries the Star Wars name well, if not always faithfully. If Menace suffers from anything, it's too much frivilous humor and goofiness. Jar Jar Binks could have been a useful character if he weren't in Menace so flagrantly to sell Corn Flakes to six-year-olds. His silly antics and inane dialogue and reactions (did that camel thing actually pass gas? PLEASE!) serve only to detract from the movie as a whole, and indeed I have spoken with many people who would have liked the movie much more without this fluff. Finally, however, Menace serves well as a Star Wars film; it entertains, amazes, and carries on the legend of that incredible galaxy far, far away...
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie!
Review: I can't say how pleased I am with Star Wars Episode 1, Phamton Menace. The truth is, I am not a die-hard Star Wars fan -- but being a new fan, these are my opinions on this film. The sounds, special effects, computerized images, and other high tech stuff used in this film is excellent! The acting is pretty good too and Jar Jar Binks is the "funny bone" in the story! I just had to laugh at his funny ways! And the plot was OK -- I guess it'll get better because this is only episode one. Overall, I really really enjoyed this film! Some of you (die hard star wars fans), as I've noticed, are really irritated by this so-called "poor" film. I don't know why you guys should be, I mean, I've seen the old Star Wars films, too and I still LIKE this one. Anyway, this is a great movie and I would definitely see it again! It deserves FIVE stars, because movies are all about entertainment and enjoyment -- this one, I thoroughly enjoyed which deserves its full credit. The action and excitement in this film will appeal to people of ages!
Rating:
Summary: The Ups and Downs of Episode One
Review: I can't say I hated EVERY minute of it. I thought the podrace was exciting and well done -- I liked the underwater-with-giant-beasts sequence -- Queen Amidala's outfits were very cool -- I enjoyed the two-on-one lightsaber duel at the end. The sprawling land battle scene between the droids and the Gunguns was very cool visually. Ootah Gunga, the underwater city of the Gungans, was freaking gorgeous! as were almost all of the locales -- Theed (Naboo's capital city), the Jedi Council chambers, etc.) Things I disliked about Phantom Menace: 1.) Jar Jar Binks (though I didn't hate him as much as other people did) His voice/language were very grating. The fact that Lucas felt it at all necessary to include something so goofball gets to me. 2.) I know for a fact that several members of the cast are incredible actors; I've seen them in other films. Yet they are SOOO wooden in Ep. 1. I have to assume it's Lucas's fault. He's become so enamored with his super-advanced non-linear editing system where he can digitally combine Take 7 of Liam Neeson with Take 13 of Ewan McGregor. So in love with the fact that he can just put his actors in front of a bluescreen. I feel he is robbing any and all spontaneity from the performances of his actors. There's no rhythm to their conversations. 3.) The boy playing Anakin (Jake Lloyd) was awful. But I can't help but wonder if he's victim to the problem noted above. 4.) What the @#$& is up with the Star-Trek-scan-for-lifeforms-in-his-blood-sample explanation of The Force?!?!? And the whole immaculate conception thing? Was any of that baloney necessary? I (and probably just about everyone else in the world) was perfectly content to have The Force be an ambiguous something that even a master like Yoda could only explain with poetry and vague-isms. I didn't see Yoda greet Luke's arrival on Dagobah and request for training by whipping out a handy dandy Lil' Jedi's First Aid Kit. 5.) The dogfight against the droid ships/mother ship was a joke. Not developed at all - no pacing, no one we cared about (except Anakin and that's debatable), no sense of what their objective was. The best dogfight was in Star Wars. Excellently paced, different people taking their shot at the trench, the emotional resonance of Biggs's death, etc. Even Return of the Jedi's dogfight had these elements, especially the sudden realization that the death Star was "fully operational" and then started blowing the big ships out of the "sky", will the Falcon be destroyed, if they DO succeed in destroying DSII Luke is dead, etc. I just didn't care about the Ep. 1 dogfight. Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have wanted to be in George Lucas's shoes by any stretch of the imagination. Fan expectation was immeasurably high. High to the point that I believe it would have been almost impossible to please them (us). But, that said, I think that removed from the excitement of seeing a new Star Wars movie, after fiercely clinging to a hope and prayer that this movie would be worthy of the Star Wars legacy, that after the incredible eye candy that a legion of production artists, animators, digital montage specialists, costume designers, etc. has faded from your retina, you are left with a slow paced, poorly acted film populated by characters we barely care about which dismantles beloved aspects of the original trilogy. I still pop Ep. 1 into my DVD player from time to time but it is never to watch the movie. I do it to watch one of the "making of" documentaries or to watch the podrace sequence or to freeze frame one of the gorgeous digital compositions. That to me is a sad, sad fact.
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