Rating: 
Summary: EXCELLENT FILM
Review: I saw this three times in the local theatre and was SPELLBOUND. In my view the performances were all very good from Neeson as Qui Gon even to Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks) and Ray Park (Darth Maul) Conveying menace in a man without words...convincingly...is VERY HARD...and Darth Maul did it well. Some say Anakin was stiff...I think personally not. He conveyed to me everything a young child may, if the child went through such events. Musically and visually the film was stunning. John Williams does a great job bringing new life to a familiar story with a score that is 90 to 95 percent new. Anakin's Theme, the Podrae Parade and The Trade Federation March all stood out...as did Duel Of the Fates and the funeral dirge. Both stole my breath. Storywise this was good, action-packed but filled with moments of tenderness and humor too. The midi-chlorian thing to me was a good explanation of why some people may be stronger in the Force than others. The fight scenes looked and felt so much more dynamic and energetic here. One thing I think to remember....It is not a good idea to compare this to the rest of the saga because then your expectation WILL go too high. The key with Star Wars or any fantasy film is to sit back, have fun, and let yourself be immersed in the world the film depicts. THAT is the magic of Star Wars, and it is still as strong today as it was 23 years ago... For the child in all of us...and the adults who love the feeling of awe we had when seeing Star Wars as kids....May the Force be with you...always.
Rating:
Summary: Star Wars TPM is awesome!
Review: I saw TPM in the theatres 8 times, I know someone who saw it a record breaking 20! The storyline Lucas has developed for the Star Wars universe is the best out there...Only true fans will be able to see the intricate details of the storyline...and if you hated it because of JAR JAR you are ignorant...Look at the amount of work that went in to this project....Masterpiece of modern Cinema.
Rating: 
Summary: The Phantom Menace
Review: I seen this in theatres in 1999. In any case, I believe it to be a good movie, even if it wasn't as good as the original trilogy. The graphics are better in this movie than the originals, but what are you to expect with the time difference? The Pod race was awesome too. Jake Lloyd (the kid who played Anakin) cannot act to save his life, therefore the film suffers with the scenes he's in.
Here's the biggest problems: How do you have better technology in the past then you do in the future? If I remember right, Episode I takes place 32 years before Episode IV. Why do you have an animal pulling something that can levitate, they can figure out how to levitate something but they can't figure out how to move it from point A to point B? George Lucas has such a big ego that he had to showoff how great he is and make this movie so over the top with special effects that it makes the originals look dated instead of making the new movies flow into the old movies.
Rating:
Summary: good movie
Review: I simply cannot understand what the fuss about this film was after everyone was dissapointed. This is actually quite a good movie, maybe not as good as the originals but it had everything that makes a good Star Wars movie, the villain, the good-guys, the comic relief[okay maybe Jar Jar let this one down]. Also some great visuals and some super cool battles. The podrace is a real blood fueler i might add.
Rating: 
Summary: Menace to Society
Review: I spent 30 minutes with my PS2 controller watching Phantom Menace... I thought it was a game!Just kidding. This movie is horrible. Nuff said.
Rating:
Summary: classic!
Review: i still can recall going to see rotj back when it came out for the 1st time in theaters and saw it's re-release shortly after on a good friday! i was born in 1978 and i was pretty young back in 1983 and i saw it twice! i collected the toys like many kids did back then and loved star wars and to this very day i still love star wars and continue to collect the toys and other stuff! ep.1 made the the summer of 1999 the greatest ever for alot of people! i never had so much fun and was never as excited with waiting in long lines for the tickets and for the midnight release of the new merchendise! see all the new toys and stuff with star wars on it made me feel like a little kid again! when may 19th finally hit i was excited all day (i have insomnia and usually get up around 2-3pm but that day i was up around 9am!)i saw the movie at 9:30 that night and chills ran up and down my body when the music hit! sure the film isn't like the previous 3 in many ways but it's still star wars and still has the same feel as the old ones! everyone seems to have they're problems with it no matter what! back in 1977 the first film took a while to get people's attention and was given bad reviews! but look what happend to it! for ep.1 making all the money it did and ranking in the top 5 of all time it sure looks like someone enjoyed the film! sure jar jar annoyed alot of people...so what? i'm pretty sure people would be saying that there was something missing if he wasn't there and bash george for that! george gave us ep.1 (yes it's been a long time since the last one but if he made it years ago it wouldn't look as great!)george had spent more time around the star wars universe than anyone and he still hasn't gotten the credit he deserves! people want so much from the guy and when he give us what we want people bash him for it! people want dvd's now but you have to see where george is coming from! he spends most of his day on ep.2,trying to make a good movie and people keep bitching about the dvd's! i'm pretty sure if they came out now people would be mad that there wasn't any new bonus stuff! what do you want more..ep.2 or dvd's! some people can be really greedy! so give ep.1 a chance buy it,rent it,borrow it or steal it if you have to but give it more of a chance. i'm sure it will grow on you and in 20 years you'll be telling the kids about how ep.1 was a experience that you'll never forget and never see again!
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie -- Horrible on VHS though
Review: I still have the original Star Wars when it was first released on video. It has been watched, literally, over 70 times. The picture quality of this 20-year-old pre-THX video, looks better than this $29.95 brand new video. I have to back up the other reviews about how bad the transfer was to VHS. It looked like a bootleg in most parts of the movie. It is stamped with the THX logo, but you sure wouldn't know it by watching it. Oh well, maybe Lucas will improve it on The Phantom Menace Special Edition VHS in 2021.
Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for Episode II and III
Review: I stood in line four and a half hours to see the original Star Wars movie at age 5, and I just couldn't help feeling like that 5 year old kid again waiting for Episode I. I was not disappointed either time. I think that those who are too critical of this movie were kids themselves when the original came out. They are seeing the movie but forgeting to watch it through a child's eye. Kids don't read movie reveiws, I never did. They see the movie for what it is. They enjoy the creative story and the great special effects. They sit in sheer awe from what's playing before their eyes. They don't say, "That Jar-Jar character seems to me to be highly computer animated, and really ruins the whole movie experience for me!". Kids don't read the movie reveiw section of the paper and they are better off for it. So I guess you should ask yourself why you read them? Come on! Be a kid again...
Rating:
Summary: A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT!
Review: I suppose I had figured the mythology of the first three Star Wars films(SW,ESB,ROTJ) all wrong. I thought that the major theme was "Power-Over vs. Power-Within." I thought I had an understanding of what the makers of these films were trying to say. I guess I was wrong. Here are the basic points that I want to make: 1) In the Phantom Menace(PM), the cosmic war is CHRISTIANIZED, with Darth Maul looking like Satan! How incredibly shallow! Yeah, villians NEVER look like "normal" people in real life, right?! Please! Whatever happened to the concepts that really made you think, such as Luke going into the cave at Dagobah and understanding that what Luke saw as evil were really just components that he himself owned? 2) In the Empire Strikes Back, Yoda's home is on a planet that is nothing but a swamp which was meant to call your attention to the powers and mysteries of nature (where "the Force" comes from), but in the PM, Yoda lives on a planet that has wiped nature out and the Jedi reside in a Vatican-like Ivory Tower! I guess not EVERYONE has equal share of the force, just the SPECIAL HONOR SOCIETY ones do! 3) Anakin and his mother are Slaves on Tatooine, yet they live better than I do?!?!?! 4) Anakin yells "this is INTENSE!" while in the fighter at the end battle scenes. PLEEEZE! He also yells "YIPPEEEE" when his slavemaster lets him go home. Yeah, I really believe that these characters are so downtrodden by their lives as slaves. Lucas must have read "Roots" by Alex Haley before writing these characters (My eyes roll). 5) Lucas did not include any discussion about possible environmental/sociological/psychological elements making Anakin turn to the Dark Side. If Lucas did his research, he may have found that most tyrannical real-life despots come from majorly abusive or traumatizing childhoods. I guess Anakin's scars come from winning the Pod Race (My eyes roll again!). The storyline has a lesser social relevancy because of these dim-witted character sketches. 6) C-3PO was made by Darth Vader?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Imagine the odds!!!!!! 7) It is odd that with such a vast infinite number of galaxies, alot of what goes on in The Star Wars films take place on Tatooine! 8) Although the Star Wars films were nothing like the real-life war movies such as "Full Metal Jacket", they still had people getting tortured and killed in sometimes graphic scenes. Then all of a sudden, they decide to make these movies JUST FOR KIDS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! 9) I thought that the two main Jedi (played by Neeson and that other guy who was supposed to be Obi-Wan) were a bit too MACHO! Right before they both do the lightsaber fight with Darth Maul, they see him in the hangar and say something like "Leave him to us!" Like the audience is supposed to say "Yeah, go get him! WOO HOO!!! KICK HIS DARK-SIDE BUTT" This is not in keeping with the original understanding of the Jedi. Well, that is all I can say now. If I were to talk more, I would only collapse in pure tragic horror over this baleful film! (...) It has been a year since I have seen the film. I decided to watch it again so as to see if my critique was adequate. I found, once again, that my review was quite on target in many ways (if I do say so myself). There was one crucial aspect that I had alluded to, but still grossly overlooked. Thanks to another review which further pointed this element out to me, I now see further evidence of this film's flimsy structure.
What I am refering to is the scene at the end of the lightsaber duel after Liam Neeson's character gets killed by Darth Maul. Obi-Wan then kills Darth Maul out of REVENGE (not self-defense). Knowing from ROTJ that striking your opponent down out of anger and revenge leads to the Dark Side, why didnt Obi-Wan become evil? This is something that 99% of the audience never questioned. In fact, most of the audience thought of Obi-Wan as the hero after killing Darth Maul (and it surprises me that this is how Lucas wanted the audience to react, I suppose Overconfidence is George Lucas'es weakness.)
So, Im sorry that many found my review to be unhelpful. But these are people who I seriously DOUBT would be willing to actually discuss with me on an intellectual basis the EXTREME extent of how this film is flawed. Ok, I feel better now.
Rating:
Summary: An action flick set in the Star Wars universe
Review: I think a lot of the disappointment of those who did not like this movie comes from the fact that this film did not quite inspire the wonder and magic that the first films did. But, then, this film had some pretty high standards to meet! For my part, I just popped some popcorn and went along for the ride. There's no doubt that the special effects are the real stars in this movie; the level of detail in world creation is completely immersive and very impressive. The breakneck pace of the pod race sequence is enough to leave you gasping. And the furious, dazzlingly-choreographed lightsaber battles themselves are worth the price of admission. The acting is merely adequate, with a wooden Liam Neeson being a little disappointing and a spunky yet regal Natalie Portman the true gem of the lot. Ray Park's Darth Maul provided enough menace to make you want to see him squirming on the end of a lightsaber, but it won't be enough for those longing for a villain on par with Darth Vader. One disappointment is the technical and biological explanation of the Force, which takes away some of the spiritual mystique developed in the first three films. But that is a minor quibble. Overall, I think it's most important to remember that this film is supposed to lay the groundwork for not only two more movies of a prequel trilogy, but an entire sequence of six films. If you check your brain at the door and enjoy the eye candy, it's hard to be disappointed. Plot and character depth is not to be found in large quantities here, but it is a welcome opportunity to re-visit the Star Wars universe.
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