Rating: 
Summary: ok movie, FANTASTIC DVD
Review: Movie: The Phantom Menace is an ok film. I believe that while it is a slight dissapointment, quite juvenile in some aspects, and occasionally fast and off-paced, it's fun to watch, provides a good introduction and opening to the series and can satisfy in a lot of areas for hard-core fans. Especially in the Jedi area. The Jedi are developed wonderfully in this movie. We get to see them before they were reduced to Yoda, Obi-Wan and Luke. We get to see when they were a big part in politics and a large influence in galactic affairs. The ideals of the council, the nature of the apprentice-master relationship and their fighting style. The lightsaber fights are breathtaking. In other aspects, the movie fails in a few areas. One being the character of Jar-Jar. Jar-Jar seems to be a good idea in concept. However, his execution comes off as exxagerated, annoying and excessive. While he can be occasionally entertaining, he says to much when he shouldn't be saying anything, he says the wrong things and he gets in the way. It's as if you're on a date with Star Wars and Jar-Jar is a third wheel. He is tolerable though and doesn't "ruin" the movie as many have said. The second problem is the character of Anakin, but he's not as big of a problem as Jar-Jar. It's mainly Anakin's lines. The piercing, groan-inducing "Yippeee!" should've been replaced with something like "All-right!". The line "Now THIS is pod-racing" should be totally removed. Other than that, Anakin is played rather well. And if you had seen his competition(see below), you'd understand why he was picked. The third problem is Darth Maul. Darth Maul is saddeningly underdeveloped. We never get a sense of how evil he is. He comes off more as a mere assassin than a trained sith-lord. There's a TV spot series(included in disc 2) in which one is voice-overed by Darth Maul reciting a poem about fear. This poem has more words than Maul's total lines and, I think, shouldve been included in the film somehow. If not, there should've been more scenes in which he talks more and discusses his dark-side ideals. Aside from Maul, Jar-Jar and Anakin, all the other characters are great. Anakin's mother Shmi(Pernilla August)gives the best performance. Amidala(Natalie Portman), the two Jedi(Neeson and McGregor) and Senator Palpatine(Ian McDiarmid) all give notable performances as well. My final problem is the pacing. Watching this movie is like being repeatedly punched in the gut in good and bad ways. It takes you from shot to shot showing you widespread oohs and aahs at an uneven and occasionally disappointing pace. You'll want to see more of a moment or location but the movie just whisks you away and says "HEYLOOKATTHISNOW!NEATHUH?OKMOVINGON!" Aside from these problems, this is a really great movie. It's certainly worthy of the Star Wars name and is loads of fun to see multiple times. The conflict on Naboo and the way it spreads to encompass the characters is a good introduction. Theres a great blooper reel on this disc. To access it, use search mode on your remote and go to title 3. From what I've seen and heard, Episode 2: Attack of the Clones will not have any of Episode 1's problems and will be an incredible film, far surpassing an ok film like The Phantom Menace. Final Score for movie: 3.5 out of 5 Features: This is George Lucas' first DVD and it was long-anticipated. I can tell you it was worth the wait and certainly worth buying over the VHS version without a doubt. DISC 1: The Movie Crisp, clear perfection. This movie was filmed digitally so when its recorded digitally, it's absolutly perfect. A far cry from VHS. This movie shares is pristine quality along the lines of seamless digital transfers of Pixar's Toy Story series, A Bug's Life, and Square Pictures' Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. You certainly won't be disappointed with the presentation. Plus, DVD has freeze-frame pausing unlike VHS's skippy jargled pausing. It's certainly an advantage in this movie for all the visuals you want to stop and soak in every little detail from. With DVD and a transfer this good, it's possible and really fun. Disc 2: Special Features If you wanted to know all about how this movie was made, Disc two certainly satisfies. "The Beginning" is a highlight of this disc. A camera crew was given total unrestricted access to the sets and offices that made The Phantom Menace. 600 total hours were filmed. You get one hour of the best footage. It's really great stuff covering all stages of production. No voice overs and no cutting to cast and crew sitting in a room remeniscing. This documentary gives you a fly-on-the-wall kind of experience. You see it all as it happened. Theres tons of featurettes. If you're curious about any little aspect of the film be it design, production, casting, special effects and more, theres a featurette for it. One of which is called "3000 Anakins"(the one I mentioned above) You can see quite a few of the kids who auditioned for Anakin. When seing the other two finalists, you will know why they picked Anakin, I assure you. All the trailers and TV-spots are there. The "Duel of the Fates" music video is great and it contains a few more behind the scenes shots. Movie Posters in more than a dozen languages are included. The production photo gallery is ok. Theres two scenes where you can view storyboards, rough animatics and final shot together or each one alone which is really neat. There's 7 deleted scenes, some of which have been reincorporated into the movie on disc 1. If you watch the documentary, you can find out why certain scenes were cut and a little backround on deleted scenes in general. One of the most impressive parts of this documentary is the breakdown of the cut waterfall scene. When they show you how they made the waterfall itself, its really cool to see. Theres also great additional bloopers (CG ones akin to those from Pixar's movies) at the end of the deleted scenes documentary. This is one of if not the best special feature discs out there and it might've been worth buying on its own for the same price. Final score for features: 6 out of 5 Overall, if you liked Episode 1, you need to buy this DVD. If you kinda liked it, rent it. It's certainly worth seeing even just for the special features. Final score for the DVD release of Star Wars: Episode 1-The Phantom Menace: 4 out of 5
Rating: 
Summary: Episode I could have been so much better.
Review: I found that Episode I lacked a good plot and catered more to a 6-year-old rather than an adult, which is why I hesitate to recommend the movie to anyone else. However, because I am an avid Star Wars fan, I have to admit that I did enjoy watching the movie for the first time. I know one of the fatal flaws of the movie has been repeatedly stated by other reviewers, but it can't be said enough: the digital character, Jar Jar Binks, was horrible. In short, Jar Jar looked fake, was annoying, and was too cartoonish. Although the digital effects that were used for the 'Pod race' and space battles were impressive, it did not work well for Jar Jar. A puppet, like Yoda, would have been better as it looks more real. Furthermore, Jar Jar was quite annoying: he was hard to understand and contributed nothing to the plot. I realize that George Lucas wanted Jar Jar to be a comic relief character; Lucas had much better success with C-3PO and R2-D2 in the original Star Wars movie. The whole movie, Jar Jar included, seemed childish. The images and dialogue reminded me of a Saturday morning cartoon. The attempt at humor was puerile. Watching the clumsy Jar Jar trip over himself was not funny. I believe that Lucas's vision for this movie was to focus on the child (Anakin) leaving his mother to begin an epic journey. A better theme would have been to focus on discipleship. The relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon had no substance. Instead, they appear on-screen as robots with no history together. In addition to focusing on the discipleship of Obi-Wan to Qui-Gon--this could have been contrasted to the relationship between the discipleship of Darth Maul to Darth Sidious (Maul and Sidious are both villains in the movie while Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are the good guys). In the end, however, for the die hard Star Wars fans out there, I have to recommend this movie. If for no other reason, because 2 years is a long time to wait before we see Episode II.
Rating: 
Summary: a great film!
Review: Despite the many arguments that episode 1 was absolutely terrible, I feel I must disagree. The 4th (or 1st, if you will) installment to the star wars saga isn't as great at the original 3, but it certainly isnt bad. The CG graphics (though sometimes cartoony) are excellent, and even though episode 1 seems more geared towards a younger age than the first trilogy, it can still be enjoyed by all. If asked what my favorite thing in the film is, I'd really have to say everything (except maybe Jake Lloyd's somewhat...C minus performance....though this proves as the film's only shortcoming) because the movie really is that great.
Rating:
Summary: 3 stars only for the FX.
Review: Sure, it wasn't the worst movie ever made, but when you put Star Wars on the label, you had better have each part that made Star Wars memorable to start with. I realize that it's nearly impossible for Lucas and co to recreate that feeling, but couldn't they have had actors who believed in their characters? I'm sorry, but only the supporting cast was convincing. Sure, Queen Armidillo was pretty, and basically the only decent actress aside from the returning cast, and maybe Anakin(possible future in a few years), and while Darth Maul didn't have Darth Vaders presence, he still had the stare of evil. Jar Jar Blinks was a decent 3D model, but as a character, he was too annoying. Definitely buy or rent it though, if only to say that you want Episode 2 to come out and be better. Que Gong Jim can do a much better job than he did in this movie. He was excellent in Superman II and Schindlers list. But if you want a movie with good actors, and good FX, buy Galaxy Quest. Its worth a whole lot more than this $100 million or however much piece of wasted film.
Rating:
Summary: Seems more like a LucasFilm Demo reel
Review: This movie is not as bad as everyone says. Unfortunately it is a victim of its own hype. Truth is, if this movie didn't have the title "Star Wars," all those fanatics out there (who spend 40 days in line to see it, with no life) wouldn't have hated it as much. People were expecting too much. They were right about a few things, however. The movie does not have the emotional impact that episodes 4,5, and 6 had. And the special effects were way too dense, Lucas needed to calm down with those. And yes, Jar Jar hurt the movie. Overall a welcome addition to the series, and not as bad as some fanatics say.
Rating:
Summary: It's all George Lucas!
Review: Lucas has cooked up yet another masterpiece with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. This wonderful prelude to Episode II introduces us to the character of Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader. Some find him annoying, but he acts just like any 9-year old would! Excited, ambitious, and out-going. Jar Jar, while a bit irritating at times, was a welcome addition, and casting Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn was the best casting decision in the whole movie! Neeson plays his parts flawlessly and gives us one more reason why he's one of the best actors of all time. Any Star Wars fan will greatly enjoy Phantom Menace! This is a film I will remember and be proud to own for many years to come! I eagerly await TPM's launch on DVD! George Lucas knew exactly what he was doing with this movie, and he ended up with a timeless classic!
Rating:
Summary: The Worst Star Wars
Review: A great movie..........but the worst of the series. I found Jake Loyd was a bit weak, and the atmosphere was off. All in all, though, it was incredible. Good action stuff and a must for Star Wars fans. No, Jar Jar is not that annoying!
Rating: 
Summary: It just isn't good
Review: Yeah, I wathed this movie and was definitely disappointed. First of all i don't see how people could go so CRAZY over Darth Maul, he was such a big thing to everybody yet he was in the movie like 5 times or something, and a total of like 10 min. Maybe he did and maybe he didn't, but I don't even remember him talkig! So it dosn't make sense to me to go so wild over that wierd person. I also did not like Anikan Skywalker. He just had bad acting. He also had a bad scrip too, but mostly it was the acting. The character just wasn't realistic, he didn't act like a real 8 or 9 year old boy. Well, in my opinion don't waste you're money renting this movie, get something good like the real Star Wars for instance.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a viewing.
Review: The Phantom Menace is pretty good, but I don't find it to be a classic. I've watched it a handful of times. There are some things that could be better. The special effects are the most impressive aspect (The action isn't bad either.). All of the various creatures throughout the movie are interesting also. One thing about The Phantom Menace that is disappointing is the lack of character development. Liam Neeson's character is an example of this (The same goes for Darth Maul.). Something else that should be better is the plot--it isn't too captivating. As for Jar Jar Binks, I have no problem with him. He doesn't irritate me at all. This film has some good qualities to it. It's not as good as the other films in the series though. I don't consider The Phantom Menace to be boring. Any movie that I can watch more than once isn't too bad. Worth a viewing.
Rating:
Summary: The Phantom Menace..In short, the best movie ever made!
Review: The Phantom Menace is deffinately the best movie I have ever seen! I have heard many people say that the Phantom Menace wasn't a good movie, and wasn't worth watching. However, I soon found out that was not the case after watching the movie. The only reason people don't like the Phantom Menace is because they aren't Star Wars fans! This is the best of the series, and anybody who was impressed with the past three episdoes will LOVE this movie! This episode gives you a clear picture of the story before Luke's time, and will help you understand many of the questions that arroused in the other three episodes. This movie also leaves you eager to know what will happen in the next movie that is currently being filmed. The special affects are absolutely incredible! You can tell as time progresses (and technology as well)that every movie gets better and better. (both storyline and affects)Many parts of the movie just make you want to say, "Wow!" over and over. Their is no telling how much time George Lucas spent on scenes such as the Gungan city, the pod race, and the lightsaber fight between the two Jedis and Darth Maul. Any Star Wars fan will love this video. If you haven't yet seen it, then your missing a big piece to the Star Wars trilogy. A superb video!
| 
