Twenty five years and this is the best that Lucas could come up with?

Rating: Null/10 (16 May 2000)

The Phantom Menace: After Naboo is blockaded by Imperial forces the planet's young ruler is faced with a difficult decision: does she give in to the aggressors, accept defeat and save the lives of her subjects or fight and risk destruction?
I remember waiting in line with friends for hours to see Star Wars over twenty years ago, and have seen each parts of the trilogy many times since then. Consequently, I was thrilled when Lucas announced that he was ready to start filming the prequels. And on the day Menace was released, I once again found myself waiting in line for hours with friends, anticipating a great movie. I've never been so disappointed.
The Star Wars franchise is synonymous with special effects and this outing is no exception. Unfortunately, whereas the fx have always been there to wow the audience they also bolster the story. Here however they take center stage: the underwater scene, and the pod race scene for example, could easily have been cut in half without altering the plot (if you can call it that.) in any way. I kept expecting George Lucas to pop out at any moment and say "See what we can do for your movie!" The film also spends too much time and energy pandering to the kiddie set.
Much like "Return of the Jedi", "Menace" succumbs to the "cuteness-factor" whereby cuddly creatures are introduced to draw the kids in. In this case, it comes in the form of Jar Jar Binks, a computer animated creature who speaks in a bastardized Jamaican patois. I found him annoying from the moment he appeared and grew to loathe him within minutes - I kept praying he would be struck by an errant asteroid or cleaved in two by some psychotic alien. No such luck. Then there's the acting.
There were several weak performances in Menace, the most noteworthy being Jake Lloyd - he gave such a wooden performance it sounded as though he was reading directly off cue cards. Where was Haley Joel Osmont when they were casting? Ewan McGregor is also guilty of walking through his role and turning in a passionless performance. What happened to the headstrong young jedi that we heard so much of in the later films? If it wasn't for Natalie Portman, there would little to recommend about this film.
Let us hope that they devote as much time to the plots for the next two movies as they do to special effects.