Try it out again.

Rating: Null/10 (5 February 2000)

I've seen The Phantom Menace ten times now. I still love it. From the moment I stepped into the theater on opening day(May 19) through the moment I saw it in late January 2000, I was impressed. But one who watches this movie should not only see it more than twice, but should consider what's GOING to happen in the future episodes. Yes, the characters were under-developed. But they WILL be more developed later on. They didn't have to be GREATLY developed like some people want. People don't have any patience. If only they'd wait until all three movies are done, and THEN criticize the WHOLE story as they see fit. The characters WILL be more developed then. Even Lucas said that Episode II will not be FX-driven, but more Character-driven. I mean, Amidala and Anakin fall in love and get married. That's GOT to develop some character! And I know the Clone Wars will be exciting, with Anakin's heroic pride taking over. That will show character as well. And Obi-Wan we'll definitely see more of since he's training Anakin. We'll learn more about him. And Sidious/Palpatine. He definitely will be more revealed in the next two movies. So if we already knew too much about these characters in Episode I, what's the point in going onto the next movies besides seeing how Anakin becomes Vader? Most of us already know how that happens(for the most part). Lucas purposely left the characters under-developed so that the next two episodes can reveal more. We'll have something to look forward to. People are comparing ONE movie, to a trilogy(the originals). I think people should WAIT until all three prequels are done, and then compare one completed story to another. We didn't really fully understand the characters in the originals until later on. I mean, we got a taste of who they were in "A New Hope," but it wasn't really a whole lot to go on. When "The Empire Strikes Back," and "Return of the Jedi" came out, we had a much better understanding of the characters, AND their story as a whole. So in "The Phantom Menace," we just got a TASTE of what the characters are like, and a TASTE of what the fully story is about. Once the other two are made, The Phantom Menace will make more sense than it does now. People are so used to knowing the whole story of Star Wars(the originals) because the story has been completed for years now. Most fans of Star Wars are people who were born around the time the movies came out. So by the time they were old enough to understand the movies, all three were completed. They didn't have to wait three years in between each movie to find out what happens next. They could just pop in the next video and find out. You can't do that with the new ones. We'll have to wait like other grown people had to wait back in the day. Once the prequels are completed people will realize that Darth Maul is a throw away character to reveal to the Jedi that the Sith may still exist. They'll realize that SIDIOUS/PALPATINE is the main villain here. He's the one who will take over everything. He's the one who will see to it that the Jedi are destroyed. Same thing with the Trade Federation. That was just a pawn in the game that Sidious is playing. The whole movie was made up of pawns. I think people are just not looking deep enough for the real story here, and they're just looking at what they see on the outside. They're stuck in the shallow end of the pool. If one is a TRUE Star Wars fan, they will love Episode I because they know that it was only meant to be an introduction for the next two, which in turn leads up to the originals. So go see the movie again if you didn't like it the first time. Look deeper. Look past Jar Jar. Look past the outside plot and search deeper. If you don't like this movie after you've seen it a few more times, taking into consideration what I've just talked about, then you were never a true Star Wars fan to begin with.