One for the kids...

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2015)

As much as I really, really like "Star Wars" and the entire universe and franchise, then it is really a difficult pill to swallow this first prequel. And yes, it is primarily because of the clown character Jar Jar Binks. He was just too much all of the time.
But I also found the entire pod race scene to be too much. Yes, visually it was impressive, but it was just a filler for the storyline. A filler that took up way too much time from the movie. And that whole wonder boy thing with Anakin just wore thin really, really fast.
Storywise "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" is the weakest of all the movies so far. Unless you count in those two awful Ewok Adventure movies.
Visually it is an impressive movies for sure, and it is right in the essence of "Star Wars". And the special effects and CGI effects were great. The costumes were outstanding and really impressed me.
Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor carried the movie quite well, while Natalie Portman actually impressed with her performance in this movie.
This is a child-friendly introduction to the "Star Wars" universe, albeit a bit disappointing for us who grew up with the original trilogy (being parts 4, 5 and 6 respectively).