Rating: 
Summary: a sci-fi masterpiece!
Review: The best movie ever in my opinion, ignore the critics and enjoy it for what it is: the beginning adventure of the Star Wars series. The plot is critical to the prequel trilogy and will set things up for the events in episode 2. I love this movie because of the political chaos, the way Palpatine manipulates everyone, and the Jedi's fight with Darth Maul which has to be the greatest action scene ever filmed. The effects are top notch and the scenery on Coruscant was amazing, extremely well done. Aside from the movie, the new scenes and documentaries are worth the price alone. Outstanding, a look into Lucas' world. This dvd is packed with features and extras that make it such a great entertainment value. 5 stars don't do it justice. Star Wars Episode 1 rules!
Rating:
Summary: The greatest Star Wars out of the 4.
Review: The best movie. I know some people put down Jake Loyd's acting but he is just a kid and I think he did extreamly well . Jar Jar steals the show with his funny accent and his clumsieness (if there is such word) . Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan did awesome , Queen Amidala / Padme did good, and Darth Maul is so cool with that lightsaber and those teeth . The special effect are amazing Jar-Jar is all CG and looks like a real alein . A definite buy!
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: The best start to the best saga in motion picure history
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully consistant with the others!
Review: The best thing about "Star Wars Episode 1" is that is completely consistant in tone, and point of view with the existing three movies. Which is to say, that is you enjoyed the first three movies, than "The Phantom Menace" will be a real treat. Unfortunately, this movie was the victim of a lot of hype and impossible expectations, which was why it was prematurely trashed by too many people. Like the other three "Star Wars" movies, "The Phantom Menace" suffers from some serious flaws and goofy choices: The dialogue is often flat; those aliens with the weird asian accents(! ); Jar-Jar's annoying antics, a digital fart joke; but it is certainly no worse than a lot of the material in the original trilogy(the Ewak battle comes to mind.) That being said, I was by no means dissapointed in this rousing space adventure. The movie is really a lot of fun. The effects have been lauded, but they are done with a rare sense of wonder and imagination. On the technical side the movie is near perfect, from the costumes and make-up, to the design and art direction, to the amazing fight choreography and the stunning music by John Williams. Some of the acting is inconsistant, or better to say that some of the characters are not developed. Liam Neeson, however, holds the whole movie together. I can think of no better actor to play this part. His great presence and nobility are perfect. Yet he's not the "perfect knight" of Alec Guiness. He's a Jedi Knight, definitely one of the good guys, but he's also kind of grizzled, and worldly, very much like a samuri from a Kurasawa movie. His relationship with Jake Lloyd in the movie is sweet, and touching. This is very much a movie about father figures, part of a greater story about fathers and sons. This is not so much an official "act" in the greater story but more a prelude to a five act story. Its the great unfolding of a larger story. In that sense also the movie shines. We see the story carefully unfolding. While the dialogue may not be great the actual storytelling does not falter. In that sense the writing is actually good and rich. Here we also set of a tale ofintrigue that was never present in the other movies. I think the other two movies will go in darker directions than this fun but giddy prequel.
Rating:
Summary: Great bonus material on this DVD
Review: The bonus material on this DVD makes this a good value. Sci-fi and/or Star Wars fans will enjoy this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: The Bottom Line
Review: The bottom line here is that you should buy this DVD. First, the 2nd DVD is filled with excellent special features that exceed almost every DVD I own. It is clear much care was given to put high quality featurettes in, not just to cram space-filling junk.More importantly, however, is the movie itself (of course). We don't buy DVDs just to watch special features. The acting in this movie is generally good, especially Nathalie Portman as the Queen. Liam Neeson and the Macgregor guy are believable. We don't seem to get quite as close to the characters as we did in the other 3 movies, however. Jake Lloyd is actually quite annoying, and I found the relationship between he and the Queen to be a little sickening (coming WAY too close to being budding love- geez, it's like a 21 yo with a 5 yo!!!!). They probably had to set the stage for Anakin to produce Luke and Leia with someone, but they COULD have made the age difference a little better. Jar Jar wasn't exactly a success, but I also don't think he was the miserable failure Star Wars fans think he was.
Samuel Jackson gave what I thought was a laughingly poor performance as a wise Jedi. Most of his movements and words seemed manufactured. E.T. makes a cameo in the Senate. The plot does tend to be abrupt in places, and we're never told exactly why Naboo is so important to trade in the Republic. Palpatine's ascension to Supreme Chancellor was completely unbelievable, and we're also never told why the former Chancellor, although a strong supporter of Naboo and apparently an independent thinker, was under such tight control of the bureaucrats. The Jedi battles were much better than the originals, but I'll never understand why they have to use swords in the first place. At several points in the battles, the Jedi simply wave their hand at the droids and kill them. Why would you choose to fight when you can wave your hand? Why did Obi-Wan have to stare through the red shields at the end? He could have cut his way through the SIDES, cutting AWAY the little rotating shield generators. He also could have used the Force through the room, ripping up the floor underneath Darth Maul or throwing objects his way. Oh well.
Rating:
Summary: The Genius of George Lucas
Review: The bottom line: if you are a truly devoted Star Wars fan (such as myself), you will love the movie; if you are a fairweather or new fan you will appreciate it. The brilliance of George Lucas resides in the thickness and depth of the subject matter. No one can watch this movie only once and say they have an honest opinion. I saw it twelve times in the theatre and still want more! SW:E1 boasts splendid special effects, a ground-thumping score we've come to expect from John Williams, a delightful array of new characters and dazling new worlds. However, I feel that one of Lucas' greatest triumph is his ability to deliniate the clear difference between good and evil and do so in a clean manner. Indeed, the violence is not uneedlingly graphic, there are NO curse words and no sex or nudity, yet EPISODE 1 will entertain and please both the family and the shoot-em-up, bang-em-up action crowd. This is truly commendalbe. Additionally, Lucas' uncanny ability to take complex subjects (and even boring some would say)like politics, religion, economics, international trade and anthropology and convert them into fantastic storylines is unparalleled. This means that people from all walks of life can enjoy the movie. By most popular standards this would seem like a painfully dull and boring movie (ie.no sex, no graphic violence and unappealing topics). On the contrary, the Pod Racing scenes, the climactic lightsaber duel and the three-way battle sequence should be more than enough to grip audience attenion. My personal favorite was the lightsaber duel; you have never seen anything like it (until Episode II of course)! In closing, the entire Star Wars saga is the quintisential embodiment of what a clean, great movie (with an incredible storyiline) should be.
Rating: 
Summary: This Movie Was Ruined By...
Review: The brat who plays Anakin (or Annie) and the demented "Jar-Jar Binks".If it weren't for those two,this movie would be a lot better.But there are still one problem with this movie.
-Why did the Trade Federation take over Naboo? Is it for power...or glory...or what? The movie never explains why. See,I would have given this movie five stars if it weren't for that little **** Anakin,and the kiddish Jar-Jar Binks.Luckily,Jar-Jar will die in Episode III.Star Wars fans,rejoice!
Rating:
Summary: Weak characterization -- but who cares?
Review: The characters are weak in TPM. We meet Obi-Wan, for example, but we have no idea who he is, what makes him tick. He's just a handsome dude with a lightsaber. Anakin was pretty bad. Some real poorly delivered lines. Liam Neeson seems disinterested in the whole thing throughout. But WHO CARES? Star Wars is back. We get to find out what happened before Episode IV. And it's gonna be a great ride! Episodes 2 and 3 hold a lot of promise. We've had the prologue, the scene is set -- now c'mon, Mr. Lucas, let's rock!
Rating: 
Summary: very dissappointing
Review: The chariot race looks fantastic, and Natalie Portman is believable in a fantastic role, but other charactors are unbelievably weak and charmless, and Lucus' plotting doesn't even bother to be consistant with the first three movies. This is just bad. And as we all know, the next one doesn't get any better, despite some great leading actors and actresses that don't appear here.
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