a slight disappointment

Rating: 5/10 (19 May 1999)

I enjoyed sitting in the theatre and playing cards for an hour while waiting to see the movie almost as much as watching the movie itself. Not a good sign.
The comments on this review site for "The Phantom Menace" seem to fall mainly into two groups: "Wow, a really great movie -- loved it all", and "A few nice bits spoiled by many annoying items." Put me in the second category.
I'm a fan of the first three movies, but I don't think I'd see this movie again. Why?
Good stuff: Jedi action scenes -- the final fight between Maul, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan was the high point of the movie for me, and much better than any Darth-Luke fight
um, gee, that's about it :-(
Bad stuff: Jar-Jar. I was REALLY annoyed by this unfunny sidekick; why the heck did Lucas waste so much screen time on it?
dialogue: lots of expository prose, setting up for the next two movies
lack of character interaction: Amidala and Annakin were forced to emote towards each other, and it didn't work for me
the digital effects were distracting, and didn't look as real as models. My wife and I agreed that all the CGI stuff started to look alike after a while
I didn't like the score. The only piece of music that I enjoyed was Darth Maul's music
Bottom line: I've seen the original films at least four times each, but I don't think I'll see this one again. A pity. I hope that the second and third films in the trilogy are better, but if Lucas directs them, I have little hope. They will probably feature more CGI and more "comic" characters. Sigh.