Well, at least you won't fall asleep

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 1999)

Must we continually suffer the well-meaning enthusiasm for the Star Wars saga in the praise we hear of The Phantom Menace? An entertaining movie, to be sure, but it is not too much more than that. Terrific special effects (especially in the scenes showing the completely urbanized planet and the one involving the speeder race with young Anikan) and the great fight scene with Darth Maul are the highlights of this not-bad motion picture. You will probably stay alert right to the end, which is definitely saying something, but there's a lot to be endured: the interesting characters of the first series are not there, the acting generally ranges from flat to poor, and the story is more or less forgettable. The very talented Samuel L. Jackson will probably be happy to tell his grandchildren about the seven lines he spoke in Star Wars, but many of us in the present would have liked to see more of him. And, of course, Jar-Jar Binks is just plain irritating and won't go away no matter how hard you wish. Computer nerds may continually marvel at how he was created, but the viewing audience, I would assume, is made up of a broader spectrum of the public at large.
Despite all this, I will still look forward to the next Star Wars epic.