a mixed bag all around

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 1999)

OK. Perhaps I'm chiming in too early as I've only seen it once. But here's how I felt -up and down the whole time. For every great thing I had a reservation.
so bad news first...
It felt like a rough draft...The first half hour or so was largely throw away. Why does Jar Jar Binks have more screen time than OBI WAN KENOBI? Why did we spend so much time in Jar Jar's world when it only had a slight connection to the events following it in the film--He was the embodiment of the main problem in this film -comedy. Seems Lucas doesn't understand that comic relief implies that there's something really dramatic that you need relief from -a chance to catch your breath. But the drama was missing so it seemed like one long (and painfully unfunny) comedy revue. Most of TPM's depth came from things we brought to it based on the other movies, our knowledge of their collective future. It doesn't have much depth standing on its own. That made me sad. And little Jake Lloyd has definitely taken the crown away from Mark Hammill when it comes to worst performance in a star wars film. "Yipee I get to be a Jedi" made me ill.
It was also kind of sad that all the heroism in the film was sort of accidental. Didn't leave much room for character arcs or the triumph of will. Everything seemed to happen by accident. A strange story decision considering all the talk about the force and destiny and finally it must be said -The Matrix had much better special effects :(
Whew. Sorry. Now onto the good things:
Qui Gonn Jinn and Darth Maul were excellent additions to the Star Wars Universe and the most interesting characters in the film. The cameos from Yoda and Jabba were great. Queen Amidala shows promise -though I hoped for more from the extraordinary Portman. The production design and costumes were as inventive and elaborate as they promised to be. The film got much better as it went along. The lightsaber duel/climax was breathtaking and as good as anything in the original trilogy. During a few moments late in the film I felt that old Star Wars magic.
Let's hope Episode 2 takes off from there and leaves the comedy behind.