The Beginning of an Old Epic...

Rating: 10/10 (2 July 1999)

The Phantom Menace is one great thrill for the whole family. I took my kids, wife and parents along, and none of them left the theater disappointed I'm glad to alarm. We discussed the movie after we left the cinema and I for once noticed my family loved Star Wars for a different reason. The kids because of Jar Jar Binks, my parents loved Queen Amidala and those darn spaceships that flew over our heads. This is a family movie and I hope they(Lucas and Co.) keep it that way because it really is something to keep alive.
I myself am a huge fan of 'A New Hope' and 'Empire Strikes Back' but my feelings lack a bit on 'Return of the Jedi.' Jedi was the biggest disappointment I've ever sat through the movie theater, I think I even fell asleep, but in the end it was just stupid(Batman Return might have been better). At no point Luke should have been as cocky with his Jedi power as he was. Anyway enough with the old and in with the new, whatever Jedi lacked The Phantom Menace gained: it had a ruthless villain(Darth Maul and Darth Sidious); not one or two but three great heroes(Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker); and lastly beautiful scenery which make your eyes boggle. I've read it has been compared to Metropolis and 2001: A Space Odyssey, they might be right everlasting beauty it shall be.
Friends of mine notice and told that this movie had no plot, I told them they're simply joking. There are several stories going on, there is the pacifist Queen who confronts the need to fight for the survival of her people, a mother who must give up her son so that he might achieve his true potential, and noble Jedi faced with the rise of an unimaginable evil. They'll see it, it's all too clear. Except for 'What is the Phantom Menace?' I know what it is or who it is, it is Darth Sidious the future Emperor.
This movie, to my view, is equivalent to episode four and five. I've seen this movie a few more times after the release date and let me tell you that the last scene, if it doesn't win you over you don't know what movies are.