A difficult task handled well

Rating: Null/10 (5 December 2001)

Star Wars episodes 4 through 6 had one major advantage over The Phantom Menace; no one knew what was going to happen, and all 3 films are full of surprises. Now with this "new" trilogy of episodes 1 to 3, all Star Wars fans know already that Anakin Skywalker is going to turn to the Dark Side and become Darth Vader, that at some point he will have children with Padme his bride, and that these children will grow up to be Luke and Leia. The fun this time is in seeing how it happened, although of course many fans are not going to be pleased with the results. I remember the attacks on Empire Strikes Back, and more importantly Return of the Jedi, when they were first released. Yet now no Star Wars fan would deny that these are classics. Yoda, the Ewoks....these creations were scorned by just about everyone! So whilst Jar Jar Binks is an annoying creature, well he isn't that bad as everyone is suggesting.
And neither is the film. It stands up to repeated viewings, is highly entertaining, and sets its stall out well for The Clone Wars of episodes 2 and 3. Personally I cannot wait to see what Lucas does in the next two films. The music in TPM deserves special mention, as do the performances of Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, and Liam Neesson. I was impressed with them all - oh and Chancellor Palpatine, what a malevolent character! Great stuff, and as I say, May 16th 2002 is a date firmly notched onto my calendar.
My advice: don't always believe bad reviews, get this one and decide for yourself. I would rate it somewhere between an 8 and a 9 out of 10.