What is everyone complaining about? It's GREAT!

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 1999)

The Phantom Menace, in and of itself, is a great movie. I stress "in and of itself" because Star Wars is one of the greatest movies of our time, and you cannot expect a Citizen Kane of every movie in a series. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't perfect. Jar Jar wasn't an annoying character, but his voice was obnoxious, and trying to understand him was at times a nearly impossible task. The special effects were breathtaking, so much so that they upstaged the actors in many cases. I think Lucas should cut back on his CGI use; it gets excessive at times. There are many long sequences with no human acting; it gets almost too cartoony. Finally, the characters were grossly underdeveloped, particularly Darth Maul, who could have been portrayed like another Vader as opposed to a mute comic book character. A tough, scary, and truly bad comic book character, to be sure.
In any case, despite its shortcomings, the movie is an instant classic. I can't wait to see it again.