Amazingly Underrated...

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2000)

What can you say about the world, it just isn't fair sometimes. Dan Marino retires without winning a superbowl, despite being the most prolific passer in NFL History. Alfred Hitchcock never won a Best Director Oscar, despite making some of the most memorable films in history over the course of many decades. The Phantom Menace gets amazingly dogged by critics and many moviegoers, despite being the finest film of the year.
Many might think my statement is absurd. They point to Jar Jar and scream "for the kids". Others complain that the dialogue was trite. Overall those appear to be the two main complaints. No one seems to be willing to give this movie (or Lucas) a break. It appears that this films worst enemy in fact proved to be the exceedingly lofty explanations of some of the public. Instead of being treated to the second coming of the messiah like they seemed to expect, they had to settle for one hell of a film.
None of the detractors seems to be willing to look at the scope of this piece and acknowledge its granduer. Episode One was perhaps one of the largest undertakings in film history. It blended elements of mythology, action, suspense, and burdgeoning romance and put them on film. Furthermore it did it in a way that was exceedingly entertaining. The visual elements of this film were obviously second to none. Matrix bandwagoners will scream otherwise, but really can you say the camera effects of the Matrix were better then the galaxy created by Lucas and ILM?
The Phantom Menace created a galaxy in both visuals and story. With this film Lucas launched the final trilogy to what is arguably one of the most amazing stories put on celluloid. It seems to be popular to snubb this film right now. That is sad, but it won't last, eventually people will catch on to how grand this movie really was.