Fun and awesome movie, yet some flaws.

Rating: 1/10 (27 May 1999)

Star Wars: Episode 1 has absolutely fantastic battle scenes with the mind-boggling CGI effects. Any other movie can't even come close to the special effects and the action packed scenes. Yet, of course, there are flaws. Like those stupid midi-clorians stuff. What was George Lucas thinking!? Or the horrible acting by Jake Lloyd. Or the character Darth Maul, who was the most pointless mistake of a villain. He was in what, 4 scenes, maybe 5? Yet as you're watching the movie, though, you forget all that. I am a Star Wars maniac, and I put Star Wars on a very high level above "normal" movies. Yet when I saw Phantom Menace, I didn't expect it to be on that same level because when Star Wars came out, there was nothing ever like it before. Now every sci/fi movie wants to copy it, so when a new Star Wars comes out, you think, " oh i've seen that in every other sci/fi movie." But that's not George Lucas's fault. It's not his fault that every futuristic action adventure wants to be like Star Wars. I also didn't expect it to have the impact as the first one did. I expected it to have the impact as Return of the Jedi. I also disagree with the critics saying it has no human magic. It does, yet you concentrate so much on the visuals, that you sort of forget about it. But it's there, isn't it? All in all, Episode 1 has many flaws, but so did the other ones. It is a fun experience that fits very well with the other Star Wars movies. Only one thing, how come Jabba the Hutt hasn't gotten fatter from Episode 1 to New Hope ( which is 35 years later) and blows up like a blimp from New Hope to Return of the Jedi (which is, what, 6 years later?)