Lets just put this behind us and move on

Rating: Null/10 (11 May 2002)

A real stink-bomb of a movie. I don't want to call it a let down, that brings to mind images of Wookie freaks sleeping in front of the theatre for a week. No I wasn't even aware that Star Wars had such a following. It seems odd to me that people can nurse such an obsession for so long. But, hey, they were pretty good movies. They brought together age old myth, old style story-craft, and the latest in special effects.
Unfortunately somewhere along the way Lucas started to think he was making kiddie movies. The orginal Star Wars movies certainly had a unique appeal to kids. But they weren't kid movies, they were simply so well made that no 8 year-old could help but be thrilled.
A kid movie wouldn't have been a bad thing if it had actually been a decent one. But here he have camels farting and Jar-Jar stepping in camel droppings. This is a sweeping epic years in the making?
Darth Maul doesn't really do anything except scowl, the prosaic explanation for Jedi power robs the whole concept of its power, and the whole exercise seems to be aimed at nothing more than selling toys.
Let's just forget this one and hope the next is better. Lucas has shown he can make a good movie, with any luck the Phantom Menace was an abberation.