It serves its purpose.

Rating: 7/10 (22 May 1999)

Don't expect any wonderful themes or social issues expressed. There is a small political message however. It is just your common summer movie. It has special effects, and oh how wonderful they are. It has not the same heart as its predecessor but it has heart all the same. I went to the theaters in hopes of being dazzled and I was. It was no real gem of a movie, but it didn't need to be. I had thought TITANIC was something good until I saw it for the second time and realized that it wasn't. THE PHANTOM MENACE is just one of your typical summer movies and once you accept this as true you could have no trouble with plot or characters.
I do have trouble with one thing. That is when they describe the Jedis as having "midichorians" in their cells. This had not been mentioned in any other STAR WARS movie and made the FORCE seem a little less mystic.
I'd also like to mention three other things that I thought were pretty funny. You will be able to see Warwick Davis, the guy from WILLOW, in a few of the spectator shots at the pod race. Also one of the Gungans uses something similar to the pain prods in THX-1138. There is also a small allusion to INDIANA JONES and the LAST CRUSADE when Jar Jar Binks is hanging on to the cannon on a tank.