Rating: 
Summary: Cinematography can't hold up a bad story.
Review: Cheers and congratulations are in order for ILM's masterful work on this movie, but here's the problem: The story wasn't thought out enough and bores it's way to the Jedi duel. Lucas should have paid attention when constructing sets that look more modern than the original (Star Trek's Enterprise could do the same in some areas). There is too much backstory to be told and I'm sure the script didn't allow enough running time to delve deep into Anakin, the Jedi Council, or even Yoda. There are a lot of things we still don't know, and maybe would if the pod race & Jar Jar weren't taking up that time...
Rating: 
Summary: its star wars, what did you expect?
Review: Cheesey one liners. Second grade humor. Lots of ridiculously cool special effects. Its Star Wars, what more do you want? I got really tired of hearing the same complaints, over and over again, about this movie. The humor, jar-jar, the story... Well, I have to admit, the movie fell short of the epic expectations everyone had, including myself, but here's the deal: We have another Star Wars movie to watch! Just that fact alone is exciting. Star Wars, since as long as I can remember, played a central role in my creative life, and I couldn't be happier in welcoming another installment of this series into my life.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie
Review: Come now. What were we really expecting from Star Wars? Iwatched the first Star Wars with a bunch of non-Americans while livingin India and they were appalled that we held it in such high esteem. They likened the acting to that of most Bollywood fare. They are all still great movies. Yes, some of the best...
Rating: 
Summary: It needs to be on DVD
Review: Come on George Lucas, quit being money hungry and just release this movie on DVD. We all know that Lucas is only wanting people to buy it on tape now, than have to buy it all over again on DVD in a few months or years. Come on, this movie was meant to be in the DVD format, quit witholding it! Other than that not so minor complaint, the movie is great, and I definitely WILL NOT buy it until it's released on DVD. I aint that dumb. I'm not going to buy the same movie twice.
Rating: 
Summary: come on, this is perfect
Review: come on people, this is perfect. All you questions from ep IV-VI will be answered in this movie. It is just perfect, especially the awesome endbattle with darth maul. Real SW like!!! A must buy for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Not what it ought to be
Review: Coming after (well, actually before...) 3 more or less great episodes in the saga, my expectation were very high. And were sadly disappointed. Episode 1 complitely miss the point. Star Wars is an objet of cult, is a mithology. Used to have humour style and class. Non e of which can be found here. It's hollow. Empty, no soul. And finally we are explained what the force is. The result of I don't want to know what process happening in tiny organism inside our blood. I though you needed a jedi master to control the force. I was obvously wrong. Better resort to an emathologist.
Rating: 
Summary: disapointing
Review: commpared to the first 3 movies episode 1 was no big deal and was overly hyped. the reson why most people still saw it was because it is star wars. the special effects were so-so for our times. The plot was o.k. though. all in all it is a movie worth seeing but don't go out of your way unless you love star wars.
Rating:
Summary: 16 YEARS OF WAITING AND THIS IS IT
Review: Congratulations Mr Lucas you have succeded in making the greatest toy commercial in history.The Annikan Skywalker doll would have given a more life-like performance,and jar-jar binks is just plain annoying.The first 2 movies were good adveture stories,the next 2 are just to sell toys.All in all(given all the hype)the biggest disappiontment in the history of film.
Rating:
Summary: Apology almost accepted, George.
Review: Consider George Lucas's $4 million investment in bringing the Phantom Menace to DVD an apology for the oft-maligned and poorly directed Episode I, and you'll feel better about adding the double-disc to your collection. Even though the film and story have severe shortcomings (David Letterman joked during its release that the line to get into the theater was two hours long, but the movie was so bad that the line to get out was three hours long), you cannot ignore the value of the extra material that is included.Disc one features a solid THX transfer of the film, or one should say "data", since so much of it was generated digitally anyway. Several scenes have been tweaked or extended, in true Lucas fashion, but Jar-Jar remains annoyingly intact. The audio tracks are nearly perfect with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX, and English and Spanish Dolby 2.0 tracks. Audio track four contains film commentary by George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren and Scott Squires. Burtt, Coleman, Knoll and Muren are most impressive, with Lucas and McCallum not really saying anything new. Disc two provides a rare glimpse behind the scenes at Lucasfilm with hours and hours of footage, stills, deleted scenes and trailers. One caution for sensitive viewers of disc two is the fondness that Episode I producer Rick McCallum apparently has for the F word- even in front of children- all clipped of course to just "f...", but most are obvious. My opinion of McCallum, already low, fell considerably after watching the discs. Included in the hour-long documentary "The Beginning" is a hint that several at Lucasfilm, including Ben Burtt and Lucas himself, may have had an early indication that the Phantom Menace was falling short of expectations by attempting to do too much, but they strived to improve the picture right up until its theatrical release in May 1999. Unfortunately, they came up short. So thanks again, George, for all the extras on the DVD. We'll be watching, and hoping for something a lot better with Episode II.
Rating:
Summary: Apology accepted, George
Review: Consider George Lucas's $4 million investment in bringing the Phantom Menace to DVD an apology for the oft-maligned Episode I, and you'll feel good about adding the double-disc to your collection.
Disc one features a sparkling THX transfer of the film, or one should say "data", since so much of it was generated digitally anyway. Several scenes have been tweaked or extended, in true Lucas fashion, but Jar-Jar remains annoyingly intact. The audio tracks astound with perfect Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX, and English and Spanish Dolby 2.0 tracks. Track four contains film commentary by George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren and Scott Squires. Burtt, Coleman, Knoll and Muren are most impressive, with Lucas and McCallum not really saying anything new.
Disc two provides a rare glimpse behind the scenes at Lucasfilm with hours and hours of footage, stills, deleted scenes and trailers. One caution for sensitive viewers of disc two is the fondness that Episode I producer Rick McCallum apparently has for the F word- all clipped of course to just "f.." - but most are obvious. Included in the hour-long documentary "The Beginning" is a hint that several at Lucasfilm, including Lucas himself, may have had an early indication that the Phantom Menace was falling short of expectations by attempting to do too much, but strived to improve the picture right up until its theatrical release in May 1999. Thanks again, George. We'll be watching...
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