Rating: 
Summary: Better than "Jedi"
Review: Why rehash all the stuff already written here? While Ep 1 is no where near as good as Ep 4 & 5, it was BETTER than ROTJ. Aside from Luke's confrontation with the emperor and Vader, ROTJ is a joke! It took all the great developments of Ep 4 & 5 and flushed them down a toilet with a bunch of stupid muppets! I'll take Jar Jar over the Ewoks anyday! Ep 1 had many great scenes and the beginning of a great story. While it's no Empire, it's still better than Jedi. As far as the CGI, it isn't by any means perfect, but it's a great alternative to the Muppet Show which Jedi is!
Rating: 
Summary: Devoid of the Force...
Review: Why was this movie even made? It contributed little plot development to the Star Wars universe. Lucas could have taken all the important stuff in Phantom and added an extra half hour to Attack of the Clones instead. That way we would have been spared the lacking plot, the throw-away characters, and the bad acting.The plot was really lacking. It is a nice, Sunday-afternoon kind of movie, but that isn't what a Star Wars movie is supposed to be. This movie was great for the kiddies, especially with Jake Lloyd's whining, Jar Jar's antics and the droids, but it left the adult audience disappointed and unsatisfied. There was a lot of action, but no real suspense or complexity. Even the attempts at misdirection were thinly veiled. Three characters stood out an throw-aways: Qui-Gon, Darth Maul, and Aurra Sing. Out of the three, Qui-Gon got the most mileage as the driving force behind a majority of the movie's plot. I understand why Qui-Gon was used the way he was, but that doesn't mean it was the only or the best way to further that aspect of the story. Darth Maul, who was a nice mysterious villain, was painfully underused and dispatched rather easily. This limited the impact he could have had on the story. As for Aurra Sing, there was a lot of press about her prior to the release, but I can't remember if she made the final cut of the movie. The acting, or lack there of, spoke for itself. While Ewan McGregor, Ian McDiarmid and Liam Neeson were great; they were over shadowed by the poor acting of Jake Lloyd and the incessant banter of Jar Jar. The best part of the movie was the way it looked. ILM did a masterful job with the special effects. The ships were cool and the scenery was beautiful. Even though "the look" is very important to the Star Wars universe, it's bad when then special effects stand out more than the plot.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic
Review: With 3 previous, it is hard to be fresh and this is fresh stuff. You have to put on your Star Wars brain to appreciate the Lucas genius in this flick. This film is a cult type favorite and if you are a true blue on the first three, you should be pleased with this film, unless you are some sort of pompous [...], thinking your opinion really matters. The proof is in the bucks and the Lucas concept continues to sell. [...]
Rating: 
Summary: The only way to watch THE PHANTOM MENACE
Review: With a movie that is all about special effects, the only way tosee it is the WIDESCREEN version. People who buy the PAN AND SCANversion that is fitted to your television will miss millions of dollars in digital landscapes. It's like missing parts of a painting. And with a thin plot and almost zero character development you will need all the eye candy available to you to get through THE PHANTOM MENACE. Not exactly as much fun as watching Luke, Leia, and Han race against time to get rid of all-time baddie Darth Vader -- infact, this movie comes nowhere near the original trilogy's charm which was as much about the great young cast as the special effects. Now 22 years later we get computer effects that make your jaw drop, and a bunch of actors lost in a blue screen. But for what it's worth -- it's an amusing ride, if not all that the original was.
Rating:
Summary: The Phantom Tease
Review: With all of it's flaws (and we all know there were a few) there is no denying that Episode 1 was still a good fantasy film. Sure the tone was a bit childish at times, and the witty banter we came to expect from the original trilogy was sorely missing, but it was still a good fantasy film. It was still able to transport me back to the fantasy lands of my youth. I'm not sure what else a summer fantasy/adventure film is supposed to do. If it's supposed to make me altertnately dread and lust for a bleak future in a strange twist of psychic self-mutilation (ala The Matrix), then i'll take Jar Jar over Neo any day. Besides, the Matrix looked like a 2 hour long Gap commerical whereas Star Wars featured beautiful scenery, lush backgrounds and a beautiful princess. I guess I'm just an old romantic. As far as the flaws are concerned, what struck me as the films biggest flaw was that it was basically a teaser or a warm up for what's to come, which (cross fingers, knock on wood, levitate an x-wing) should be absoultely incredible and heart-breaking. The Phantom Menace seemed more of a showcase of "this is what we can do now" than a well flushed out story. I hope Mr. Lucas and his pals really crank out an epic for Episode II ("Episode II - The Clone Wars"? hint hint, hope hope). Methinks the potential is good. At least, I hope so.
Rating:
Summary: Spare us from Jar Jar...
Review: With all the money being spent to produce this movie, would it have killed George Lucas to hire a decent script writer as well? People have repeatedly proven (Fifth Element, Godzilla, Titanic) that special effects can't save a bad movie. I went in expecting nothing more than a light-hearted, entertaining adventure story, but even then I was sorely disappointed. There was no life or spirit in the movie at all. No one except Liam Neeson (and Macgregor at times) can act. The story wanders around everywhere with no purpose. There's no real villain. The plot and dialogue are beyond ludicrous (even by Lucas's considerable standards). Instead of being entertained, I was irritated to the point where I almost walked out. If soulless special effects and lifeless computer animation make you happy more than actual acting and a decent story, go for it. If not, don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: uh...well.....i wanna like it
Review: with Episode II just about out, i decided to finally write a quickie about Episode I. i've wanted to like this film, faithfully going to see it four times at theatres, buying the widescreen VHS edition when it came out--sold it since--and getting the really good DVD--also sold it since---but i just cant like this film. the story is just boring. it doesnt draw you in. i had just written a review of Mulholland Drive--which was superb---and what i wrote in that review is that i like movies that keep me riveted until the end. I just didn't feel drawn in into the conflicts in phantom menace and was bored, though the lightsaber scene near the end was pretty good. i give this DVD 3 stars only because the DVD is excellent. the hour-long documentary on the filming process is superb and may be worth getting this DVD....but not for the movie itself. I just hope and pray that lucas has done better with Episode II.
Rating:
Summary: The Force is with you young skywalker
Review: With George Lucas's fantasticly mythic story,filled with Lasser swords,spaceships and classic outerspace villians,Jedi's and Dark Lord's battling for the fate of the Galaxy and a young unknown boy with a destiny that would find him.This beginning chapter of the most stiring saga in film history,is filled with anticipation and mystery.Well acted and exciting this 1st motion picture in a series of 6 films is not quite as deep,and adult and elaborate as its later enstallments, but is a shadow of later things to come.Absolutly spectacular special effects.A must peek for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Like watching paint dry...
Review: With the exception of some exciting scenes (pod race, light saber fight), this movie was a disappointment. The potential was there, but it turned out to be a real snoozer. The special effects are first rate, though.
Rating: 
Summary: As bad as money can buy.
Review: With the original "Star Wars" and its sequels, George Lucas didn't invent the dominant mode of filmmaking today, but he (along with Steven Spielberg) can probably be credited with perfecting it. That mode might be termed "whiz-bang," where character and even plot are subjugated to spectacle and effects. What plot the original "Star Wars" trilogy had was essentially cobbled together in paint-by-numbers fashion from the work of Joseph Campbell, presumably in the expectation that recurring motifs in mythology represent universal metaphors of human existence and so can be used as templates for popular stories. If the grosses of these films were any indication, this expectation might have been right. Certainly the original trilogy had its moments, though it bears up less and less well as time goes on--the first movie, for example, while an occasionally exhilarating tribute to old sci-fi movie serials, seems to me now to be too filled with mindless, juvenile bickering; the second, grandiose in ambition but disappointing; the third, a puerile marketing ploy disguised as a film. Unfortunately, "Episode I," or "The Phantom Menace," or whatever one wishes to call this movie, patterns itself more explicitly along the lines of "Episode VI" (or "The Return of the Jedi"). The most pathetic example of this is the land race between Anakin Skywalker and a host of strange alien creatures on Tatooine, which runs on screen (or on TV) exactly as one might expect it to run on a video game console, which of course is entirely the point. The only reason for the character of Jar-Jar Binks to exist is to provide an excuse for another action figure; after a certain point, the cross-marketing examples are too numerous to bother with any longer. More disturbing is the pervasive racist stereotyping in the film. Much has been made of the similarities between Binks and the old negro caricature Stepin Fetchit, but this was less obvious to me than the similarities between the evil traders and old-movie caricatures of evil Chinamen. The choppy Asian accents given to such characters were a little shocking to me, although it is possible to see how these characters were meant as an homage to (read: ripoff of) B-movies of the 1930s and 40s. Overall, one gets the distinct impression that after taking the greatest of care with the digital animation and special effects, there just wasn't much time or effort left over for less important matters such as character or plot. Darth Maul is meant to be a sinister, evil figure; I know this is so, because he looks like a red demon, has the requistite horns on his head, and sneers at several choice moments. On the other hand, we are never given a real reason why we should believe he is so evil. My alternative interpretation of the film is that Darth Maul is a tragic hero. Here, after all, is a hardworking individual so dedicated to his cause and loyal to his superiors that he will take on two Jedi knights singlehandedly just to help his allies in battle. Unlike "Episode IV," where we at least got to see Darth Vader pull a few dastardly deeds, there is no real reason to believe Darth Maul is anything more than a dedicated servant to a misunderstood cause. That this represents a plausible conclusion is one of the surest indications of utterly inept storytelling. "The Phantom Menace" is a George Lucas creation and an integral part of a "Star Wars" franchise that will defy any criticism in its uptake of money. It is also, however, a terrible film with all the depth of a carnival ride. Its popularity is probably an indication of the expectations of its audience, which these days rarely extend beyond such transitory thrills. If a thrill is all you need, by all means hop on the "Star Wars" ride. If you are more interested in a good story, a good film, or (heaven forbid) science fiction, look elsewhere.
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