Rating: 
Summary: TPM Rules
Review: TPM was a great movie, there are no boubts there. "She has it where it counts," in the words of Han Solo. First, Star Wars is not sci-fi. Star Wars is fantasy with sci-fi elements. Think of Lord of the Rings, make it much more creative and exciting, add a deeper plot, and put it in space wth much better developed characters, and you more or less have Star Wars. I am not trying to say that SW is like TLOTR; it is fantasy. TPM had great characters, a great plot, and was the perfect introduction to the Star Wars universe. Some fans hated this film becuase of its "kiddie appeal," with characters like Jar Jar. This film can appeal to any audience, and any audience can see it in a different ways. Kids see it as an action movie; adults see it as a movie with symbolism, themes, etc. In conclusion, TPM is a good movie and a worthy purchase. May The Force Be With You (MTFBWY).
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent! But not Up To Par With Episodes 4-6.
Review: True Star Wars fans must have this DVD. The movie is not as good as episodes 4-6, but it is still very good. Leaves you wanting more!
Rating:
Summary: best star wars yet
Review: True to the action of the first star wars movie 24 years ago, there is plenty of action, great computer modeling, and a very interesting storyline- that of the young Anakin Skywalker, and how he was before he became Darth Vader. Also, a great light saber fight at the end. Very true to the flavor of the first film. I loved it, saw it three times at the theatre- bought the video, and await it on DVD
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Summary: SO what is everyon complaining about
Review: True, it wasn't exactly as good as Empire, but I think it was on par with New Hope. Special effects are amazing, and the story isn't bad. It has to set up a fairly involved story for 5 movies to follow (episodes 2,3,4,5,6). It's basicaly a pig prologue with some action. My complaints are: 1) Lucas is not a good Actor director. He's amazing at over-all direction, but doesn't know how to get from his actors what is needed. 2) Lucas can't write dialog. He used to know this, and hired other to do it for his grand schems (See Empire and Jedi) 3) Star Wars is not for 6 year olds. jar Jar could have been a good charactor if he wasn't there simply to cow0tow to the pre-teen kids. Stop trying to get a charactor that has merchandicing potential and just make a good charactor (see Boba-Fet from Empier and Jedi, who's action figures sold well despite having no real part). 4) Manikin Skywalker. There are much better child actors, and finding an actor that was a few years older would have still been ok. Other than that not a bad flick and worthy of ther series.... On the DVD: Great sound, picture, and extras.
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Summary: Not Your Father's Star Wars
Review: True, this is not the Star Wars of 20 years ago, but I still enjoyed it and feel that it was well worth seeing. In today's theaters full of attempts to take your money, on films that are sometimes not worth advertising, much less seeing, The Phantom Menace is worth viewing. It does contain a fairly good story with a decent plot, interesting character's - both new and old - and nice special effects.
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Summary: Does anyone remember when Star Wars was cool
Review: Truely, What the heck happen here. You've all seen it so I don't have to go into great detail. I'm just bitter is all. It's like some evil version of George Lucas came out of his twenty year hibernation with the soul intention of destroying all that was good from our childhoods. For those of you who were born after Star Wars maybe you don't understand, they were not just movies. They were myths and legends and they helped form our imaginations. Good versus evil, adventure and excitement, we sought these through these movie even if jedi should not. Now, we get Jar Jar, Metaclorians and a childrens book plot. George, I know you are rich and powerful in this life but, for what you have done, I hope there is a power greater than us that will make you suffer in the next life.
Rating:
Summary: Expectations aside this isn't a bad film.
Review: Trying to create a prequel to the immensly popular Star Wars films is akin to stripping off your clothes and running naked through the mall - some will be grateful and pleased, others will cover their eyes and scream 'THE HORROR, THE HORROR'. But either way, it takes guts to even make the attempt. From the first scene it's obvious that Lucas isn't simply trying to cash in on the Star Wars name. He is trying to provide a backstory, a new legend for today's youth who have grown up watching the three original masterpieces but have never had one to call their own. What Lucas gives us is a mixed blessing, a film whose best scenes are riveting, heart-pounding fun but whose worst scenes are embarrasing and tedious. The acting is relatively non-existant. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor sleepwalk through most of their scenes (and McGregor's Alec Guiness impersonation is wholly aggravating) and young Jake Lloyd is as unbelieveable as comic co-star Jar Jar Binks. But there are a good number of performances which hit their marks. Natalie Portman's young and brave Queen Amidala and Ian McDiarmid's creepy old Senator Palpatine are both well-played. But the movie's best character is the vicious Darth Maul ('X-Men's Ray Park) whose face adorned hundreds of toy boxes but has relatively little screen time in the actual film. The story line is a bit muddled, but no matter. We are meant to take this film at surface level and it's best that we do. It's hard to get excited about this first chapter when we all know how it turns out and are really just waiting for Episode 3 so we can all see young Anakin become the Darth Vader we all know and love. I can't say I thought this movie ranked up there with the other three films but I can say that it was a good start to the new trilogy, laying in line the events and characters who will guide us through the remaining two prequels. Hopefully when it is all said and done we will have a truly great new trilogy to hold up and call our own. After all, 'Return Of The Jedi' wasn't exactly the greatest ending for the original three but it certainly didn't diminish the previous two films. So maybe the next two will be PERFECT. And this and 'Jedi' will serve as the two less then savory bookmarks for the trilogy... like a sandwich you can't help but enjoy... despite the two slightly stale pieces of bread holding it all together.
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Summary: Special effects?--WOW! Everything else?--Loathsome.
Review: Trying to review this film is difficult. One has to think of how children would view it and how adults would view it. I know I would love this film if I was a very young kid (4-8 years old, maybe). There are plenty of things to keep children of that age group enthralled. This film also had a task of keeping the millions of Star Wars fans who have since grown up(physically, anyway)interested. This could have been the case but, and I know that so many fans will never admit this-it didn't succeed. Compare it to the other episodes all you want. Sure, all of them have bad acting and questionable plots but the characters in episodes IV, V, and VI had some chemistry and you actually cared about them, even after just the first movie. This movie doesn't have that. I would have forgiven the mind-numbingly idiotic Jar Jar Binks (Kids hate him too, don't be fooled), if there were characters that made you care for them and root for them. At this point I wouldn't have cared if Darth Maul had miracled himself back to life at the end and cut everyone in half(the queen, Obi-wan, C3PO, Anakin, and especially Jar Jar-Off with their heads! ), making for Highlander-esque continuity. There is a reason that this film competed for the dubious Rasberry Award for the worst film of the year. That is how the grown-up world rates this film, but let the kids enjoy their film for now. A great many will grow up and hate it, much like many Star Wars fans did when they watched Return of the Jedi later in life and realized how stupid the Ewoks were.
Rating: 
Summary: Farewell to Star Wars, its enchantment undone for good
Review: Twenty minutes of this show was enough to leave me bored and free from my years of keeping the earlier installments for canvas of my mind. The newest installment revealed the flaws of the original plot, with its sick and ujust division of all and everything onto pitch black and dazzling white, either hellish or heavenish with no middle tones, no human complication, no humane warmth. The author's imagination was off the rocker a little bit initially, and it turned out to be touching then, but now it's like 98 years old former fashion model in the pool -- overall outlines are still there, but I'd rather look the other way. Reading the script added more insult to the injury -- it's plainly stupid. Take all special effects and visual beauty away and there's nothing left. Your average sunset on the Pacific Ocean gives me much more inspiration.
Rating:
Summary: A Creative and Artistic Masterwork
Review: Twenty-three years ago, George Lucas gave the world a simplistic, modern day fairy tale that combined age-old storytelling with special effects wizardry, that featured wonderful creativity in its depiction of a far away, fictional galaxy. In 1999, Lucas invited us back to his imaginative creation, but in a way we had never seen before. With advances in special effects, Lucas can now create vast, beautiful cities, even more unusual creatures, and epic battles, all of which make his world a more interesting and exciting place to adventure in. Episode I is the opening chapter, it sets the stage for the tumultuous events that will tear apart the galaxy in bitter civil war. The main plot of the film is the quest of the greedy Senator Palpatine to gain power as chancellor of the Republic. Palpatine as secretly launches an invasion on the planet of Naboo by using an organization known as the Trade Federation, whose ships and droid armies capture the planet. Two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, are sent to negotiate with the Federation, but when the invasion begins, their goal is to protect the planet's queen as she travels to the capital to plead for assistance from the Senate. Along the way, the Jedi discover Anakin Skywalker, a young boy who they believe to be fulfillment of a prophesy of "The Chosen One" who will bring balance to the force. Palpatine sends his apprentice, Darth Maul, to intercept the Jedi and capture the queen, but he is unsuccessful. The queen and the Jedi arrive in the capital, where then queen appears before the Senate. Palpatine manipulates the queen into making a call for a new chancellor in the Senate, of which he is a prime candidate. The queen returns home without help from the Senate, and attempts an attack on the invasion force with the help of the Gungans, an alien race living on Naboo. The Phantom Menace is a thrilling, beautifully crafted film that serves as a worthy opening chapter to the Star Wars saga. It was made with its sequels, Episodes II and III in mind, and therefore leaves questions yet to be answered in those films. It has all the excitement and creativity of the original Star Wars, but it looks and sounds far better. Bring on Episode II!
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