Oh-my-god It's incredible...

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 1999)

CLICK! (Disengage critical faculties) Ah, that's better. 'The Phantom Menace' is quite possibly my fourth favourite film of all time. Utterly stunning from the first moment, it rockets along, continually showing you things you never thought you'd ever see. The most fun I've had in a cinema for sixteen years- and yes, the last best time was 'Return of the Jedi'.
There really is nothing wrong with this; it's exciting, funny, frequently astonishing, and has a twisty-turny plot that manages to tell a decent story, while at the same time setting up five more movies. Not a bad trick, if you can do it.
I honestly can't remember the last time I was this impressed with a movie.
CLICK! (Engaging critical faculties) Okay- so it's a wee bit overlong, and some of the Coruscant/ Jedi Council stuff is plodding- but structurally it's vital for the saga, so we'll forgive that. The yoda puppet, on the other hand, is awful. In 'Empire' Yoda was a character- it didn't matter that he was a rubber muppet, he was *real*. Here, he's plastic, unconvincing and has lost much of what made him so powerful in the first place, including his sense of humour. He doesn't even sound right- not just the voice, but the dialogue is wrong: it's cod-Yoda.
The much maligned gungans, especially Jar Jar, were a joy. Superbly done, and very funny. Loved 'em. Boss Nass, in particular was a character the like of which most films would kill for- simple, striking and unforgettable. Only their big blue balls of -what?- 'light goo'? in the final battle were dubious.. everything else; fine. And the Jar Jar/ 3P0/ R2 sequence involving his tongue, hand and the droids' comments will in years to come be cherished in just the same way as much of the original trilogy are today.
There- I tried to do a critique, and I ended up defending it. It's wonderful; in every possible way.