Rating: 
Summary: I want my childhood back.
Review: Thanks a lot, Lucas.Waited half my life for this. Meesa wanna puke.
Rating: 
Summary: Is The Force with you?
Review: Many (MANY) people complained that George Lucas made us wait far too long for far too little. I thought Episode I was a great show. Jar Jar this, and blah blah that. People are natural complainers, but I had a grand ol' time watching this (3 times) in the theater and owning the video now. Very few movies are perfect, yet most people EXPECTED this one would be. Like any movie, it has it's problems I'm sure (whatever each person thinks), but George Lucas is not God, he's just a man who makes movies. And this one I thought was very good. I look forward to the next two chapters. My only complaint is not about the CONTENT of the movie, it's just a disappointment in the fact that the DVDs are not available and the rumors that Mr. Lucas will NOT make chapters VII, VIII, & IX! Is the force with him?
Rating: 
Summary: A Piece of Modern Mythology
Review: ... This is somewhat disappointing, especially considering the unfair way in which many have regarded the film. There's no need to arguer with these people -- I, for one, admit and accept that this film is not going to have me as thrilled as "Star Wars" or "Empire Strikes Back" because, frankly, I haven't been watching Episode I on the VCR weekly since I was 6 years old, as I have with the original trilogy. With any movie that recieves this much hype, it's not going to be possible for it to live up to the expectations. I'm not entirely sure what people expected -- obviously not an exciting, inventive, finely crafted action/adventure film, which is what they got. Yes, characterization is admittedly spotty, and some of the dialogue is only what you'd find in a sci-fi serial or a comic book or mythology...which, as I recall, is exactly what Lucas was going for in 1977, as well. Yes, there are so many special effects that they at times threaten to overtake the rest of the film. And, yes, I enjoyed the film immensely. The Star Wars saga is like a bit of modern mythology -- characters larger than life, worlds so elaborate and detailed that we have to stare back in awe, action sequences that push the envelope of what has been done before. Like it or not, Lucas' films have woven their way into our popular culture; just because this film didn't live up to impossible expectations doesn't change that. As a member of the saga, I found it enjoyable -- not up to the "Star Wars" freshness or the perfection of "Empire", but it's a step-up from the rushed wrap-up of "Return of the Jedi". What I respect and appreciate about the Phantom Menace, as with the rest of the saga, is Lucas' obvious love for his creation -- it shows in every frame, every detail. It may not be wholly original, but ... it isn't fun to get ... into his universe for a couple of hours. It is a MOVIE, after all, and for what it attempts -- to craft an entertaining story in an imaginary universe that has been established in 3 previous films -- it suceeds admirably.
Rating:
Summary: Subtle
Review: Why did Lucas make the movie? Qui-Gon himself says that the trade dispute was trivial, hardly worth a Jedi's time. Many reviewers said that this movie had no plot, as if nothing happened. Yet, this may be the point Lucas is driving at. It only looked trivial. But all of the events necessary to overthrow the Republic took place, and nobody even noticed! It took only a careful and daring exploitation of the weaknesses of the Republic to set in motion its destruction. To me the movie is wonderfully entertaining, focused, and subtle in its rendering of an evil man's rise to power. So subtle that I think many missed it. As happens in real life.
Rating: 
Summary: My hopes were a little bit let down.
Review: The movie would've been superb if they had gotten a better Anikan and thrown out Jar-Jar. It was a mistake picking Jake Lloyd and I don't know what was going on in their heads when they did. He spoke in monotone and had no expression on his face at all throughout the movie and when he tired, it looked really chessy. And Jar-Jar was just as bad or worse. He is another alien creature to add comedy to the movie. I laughed but at how stupid it was. I remember the original movies were so funny with the driods and Chewbacca and the Ewoks were cute but suprissingly this was a let down. But besides those two actors the movie was great. The effects were ammazing and the lightsaber fights thrilling!
Rating:
Summary: One hundred baffling choices, one mediocre movie
Review: Now that we've gotten two bad "Star Wars" movies in a row, does that mean the anticipation for the SW2 will be a little less insane? I didn't think so. Singing Ewoks, crappy production values, bad writing and an embarassing plot didn't sink "Return of the Jedi" -- and there are adults who say, with a straight face, that they actually enjoyed it -- so I guess it's no surprise that TPM has its defenders, too. To be fair, it's not awful in the way that, say, "Deep Blue Sea," "Instinct" or "Highlander 2" are awful. It's just not very good. It does have nice production values, and you can see the money on the screen. The beautiful costumes and sets, amazing CGI graphics, spectacular jedi battles and even the sort of pointless space combat are all done extremely well and hold up as the best parts of the movie. But then there's the writing. Is George Lucas surrounded by people incapable of telling him no? Where was the outcry when he gave us simpering Asian stereotypes as evil stooges of the future Emperor? Where was the outcy over Jar-Jar Binks? Where was the outcry over Anakin's immaculate conception? Where was the outcry over the idea that being a good manipulator of the Force depends on bacteria in your bloodstream? Honestly, the writing end of TPM is like bad fan fiction. The worst part is that it was all salvageable. The quasi-Asian aliens could lose the accents and be more or less fine. Jar-Jar Binks could have used the same and NOT opened the cart at the end by accident. Dump the crap about immaculate conception entirely and say Annakin's father has been dead, presumed missing, since his mother was pregnant. And cut the midichlorians discussion on the balcony. Boom. Right there, another star for the movie, just by cutting out the worst stuff. It still wouldn't measure up to the first two movies -- they had actual good stuff in them, instead of just an absence of bad stuff -- but TPM wouldn't have been a real stain on Lucas' record. With "The Phantom Menace," he's provided critics with ammunition for decades to come, who are already deriding him as a terrible screenwriter, stiff director and an auteur who put his ego ahead of his story. And that's a shame. The promise of the first two films increasingly seems like it was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: I am a huge Star Wars fan, but I found this movie very disappointing. The movie didn't make any sense to me, until I read some of the preliminary writing for the movie (which I read after seeing it). When I think of some of the great writing that has been done in the Star Wars universe, it makes this movie even more depressing. The effects are beautiful, but who cares if the story doesn't work?
Rating:
Summary: But I love Star Wars???
Review: Watching the older movies, I found it incredible that "Phantom Menace" could be so bland, a result of featureless charachters, an uninvolving story and excessive use of CGI special effects that never mesh with the story, but threaten to override it. So overdone are the effects, that watching thsi movie reminded me less of the first trilogy than of "Cool World", Bakshi's misfire mix of live-action and animation. In this entry, a young Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan Mcgregor), only a student Jedi, travels with his teacher to the planet Naboo on a mission of mercy. Jedi Qui-Gonn Jin is older and wiser than Kenobi, but both are dispatched to prevent the invasion of idyllic Naboo by the droid armies of the trade federation. When this fails, the two save that planet's leader, the elected Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman), and retreat to the safety of Corsuscant, the home of galactic senate. Heavy damage forces them to make an unscheduled stop on arid Tatooine, where they enlist the aid of a young Aankin Skywalker, a boy slave with the potential to become a jedi master. Safely reaching Coruscant, Amidala finds only bureaucratic indifference to her world's plight. Returning to Naboo to lead the fight against the federation, Amidala and the jedis enlist the aid of the Gungans, amphibians who live in large cities secreted in Naboo's oceans. While the naboo battle the federation on the ground and in space, and Amidala leads a desperate charge directly into her occupied capital, the Jedis are forced to confron an evil Jedi, an emissary of the long-thought-dead order of the sith Jedi and closer to the power behind the federation than the craven Federation viceroys. Actually, the plot doesn't sound half-bad, if that's enough after a 16 year wait. Less generous might compare it to a mediocre add-on level for the Star Wars computer game, Jedi Knight. The charachters are incredibly one-note in comparison with the heroes of the older films. Even the Jedi seem interchangeable with Obi Wan seeming as effortless in his moves as Qui-Gon. The older Jedi is also pretty monochorme considering the dialog hinting at a rebellious streak (he clashes often with the Jedi counsel). The charachters themselves speak in hushged tones and drop names that are familiar to Star Wars fans but will probably baffle anybody else. There's no rebeliousness to any of the charachters - where's Han Solo in all of this? The controversies of the alien charachters' very human ethnic traits probably wouldn't have come to the for if the human charachters themselves had enough charachter of their own and embodied some of those negative traits themselves. In the older films, we probably wouldn't have noticed the orientalisms of the greedy Watoo or the craven Federation honchos, or minded the comic relief of Jar Jar Binks. Hey everybody's an idiot, evrybody makes mistakes, that was what the first trilogy seemed to say. And there's no menace either. Darth Maul is no Darth Vader (though his moves would put the latter evil lord to shame, a true dark lord sledom needs to prove that), and certainly he gets no fun lines ("apology accepted....) The underlying evil is the myserious Darth Sidious who appears mostly in the form of a hologram beamed to the federation viceroys. But Sidious (whose probably isn't sufficiently mysterious for true star wars fans) doesn't seek to cow his minions either. He issues commands which the viceroys would probably have issued anyway. And there's none of the irony of the first films which here should center around the maneuverings of Senator Palpatine. That name enough lets fans know what's going on, but his insistence that political circumstances require drastci changes should be enough to set off anybody's warning bells no matter how apparently benign his intentions. Instead, the charachters all seem so dim, why bother worrying. In one telling scene at the end of the film, the senator - now the Chancellor - meets Anakin Skywalker for the first time. We'll be looking at your progress quite closely, the smiling galactic power holder says. Because I'm such a Star Wars fan, I've pretty much got to do the same iwth the other films. Perhaps "Phantom Menace" had to be a botch, something to teach Lucasfilm how not to do a Star Wars film, a learning experience like THX-1138. Hey, there's plenty of time to get things right before Memorial Day Weekend of 2002.
Rating:
Summary: Tapestry of Vibrant Colour (or: not THAT bad)
Review: The major failings of this film are 1: We all know how the story ends, and 2: It isn't an entire film unto itself. It's like the first half of a miniseries, or a premier episode of a tv show. It doesn't have the strength to stand alone the way the other Star Wars films do. The dissapointment with this film sprang primarily from the absence of a satisfactory ending. But Spawn did that to me as well. I still saw it again, and I don't complain. Why? Because it's PRETTY. I like pretty things. If you want a powerful plot, brilliant acting, intense action it's not here. It's not in Spawn either for that matter. But if you want to look at something pretty that doesn't tax your brain this is a brilliant, detailed taspestry of vibrant colour. You can watch it again and again and see new things every time. It's not a work of cinematic genius, Lucas leaves that to Kubrick (rest his soul) but it's really really pretty, and you don't have to think about it, just look at it. Furthermore, the special effects advances that all four existing Star Wars films (and Spawn) have inspired or downright produced allow other directors can make better, more mentally taxing, awe inspiring, films with storylines and dialogue. (here is where I rant about how instumental George Lucas has been in the advancement of SFX technology) The third major failing of this film is that there's no girl Jedi knights.
Rating: 
Summary: Wish I Could Negative Stars
Review: George, please try to suppress your greed/ego/stupidity. I think that you will come out with the same BS in next two installments. Phantom Menace is horrible. I rather eat poop
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