There are wonderful scenes in space, underwater, and racing pods, a lightsaber fight, but a digital Yoda and Jar Jar Binks are controversial decisons

Rating: 7/10 (17 May 2020)

16 years. This was the time it took George Lucas to keep his famous work, which had produced three films in a range of three years from 1977. Since at that time the technology did not allow the first chapters were produced, Lucas decided to launch the fourth part of his work, A New Hope. Only in 1993, after Lucas see what his friend Steven Spielberg succeeded in Jurassic Park, is that the director realized that the technology was enough that he could begin producing the last three chapters of his masterpiece. The fans showed that they were nostalgic of the saga, and with the re-release of the film in 3D in 2012, the episode I surpassed $1 billion worldwide, today being the tenth highest grossing film history.
Written and directed by George Lucas also - there was directed episodes V and VI to devote to more creative control of the work - the film presents news and is the first to realize major defects. One of the innovations of Episode I was him being photographed almost entirely with digital cameras, shortening the costs of post-production. It was also the first film to create a character of fundamental importance in the history, in a fully computerized, the Gungan Jar Jar Binks, who was the greatest technological revolution of Episode I, which secured a nomination for special effects at the Oscars that year. Eventually lost to Matrix which also revolutionized the effect that year.
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away ... The disorder was installed in the Galactic Republic. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is a young apprentice Jedi knight under the tutelage of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) ; Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who will later father Luke Skywalker and become known as Darth Vader, is just a 9-year-old boy. When the Trade Federation cuts off all routes to the planet Naboo, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are assigned to settle the matter.
After the Federation invades Naboo and the Jedi are forced to land on the planet. There, rescue Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) and will bound to Coruscant, capital of the Galactic Republic. Then the driver of the ship into hyperspace failure, and are forced to seek a new on Tatooine, where Qui-Gon finds a slave boy with gifts of "Force", very skilled with machines and piloting of ships, called Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd). Qui-Gon Jinn believed it to be the "Chosen One" predicted by a prophecy to bring balance to the Force, especially after he discovers that Anakin was conceived without a father, only by the power of midi-clorians. Although Gui-Gon trying to influence Watto, owner of the boy and his mother are his slaves, with the use of force, it does not allow Anakin leave and refuses to sell parts to the ship. The Jedi Anakin goes to his house, where he meets his mother, Shmi. Aware of the importance of training Anakin, they agree that the best way to escape is to use the money to enroll Amidala Anakin in a race craft. If he wins, the money can be used to repair the ship Gui-Gon. Anakin bet with Watto that will win the race. Gui-Gon takes Anakin to Coruscant then, so that he will be trained, but the Jedi Council rejects. Meanwhile, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid) secretly planned the attack to give his alter-ego, Senator Palpatine, a pretext to overthrow the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and take his place.
Even many years after the release of The Phantom Menace, we realize that this is the worst movie of the series. This position was previously occupied by Return of the Jedi. The expectation for the first episode was huge, as everyone present Anakin Skywalker as a child, showing feelings too noble for those who would become one of the greatest villains of cinema. Even knowing your destination, follow Anakin's childhood is a treat to all wanting to know what can still happen until episode III, prior to past successes. Moreover, as we noted the unusual intelligence and courage of the boy. Although we track the origin of the villain and stay wondering how this child would become a leading figure in the midst of war. The young Jake Lloyd who plays Anakin had the thankless task of representing the future villain. He would have to deliver a good performance as fans of the series would have a tendency to hate the guy even before he even think of becoming a Jedi, a Sith much less. The problem is that the kid is not going well and proved to be a bad actor. He seems to read the lines and not interpret them.
The screenplay by George Lucas, even with multiple characters and new situations, you lose the quality of the narrative, without the objectivity of yore. The film begins with a plot that involves bureaucratic blockage of trade routes to the planet Naboo imposed by the Trade Federation. Lucas loses much time on the issue and ends up complicating what we earlier screenplays was extremely straightforward. There is no denying the importance of explaining a little more political plot to know the exact reason of the whole war in the Galaxy, but it ended up leaving the plot dragged. Another aspect that bothered fans was the appearance of a virtually all-digital Yoda. But admit that the end result is very happy and seeing their fight scenes in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, we see that there is no way to do that if it were not so digital. Many spoke up, but the end result does not compromise in any way. Fortunately technology has only helped in the features and handling this case.
When we see in A New Hope these two friendly robots escaping and landing on Tatooine and being purchased by Luke and his Uncle Owen many years later, a curiosity that was always on our minds was whether their origin was told in the new trilogy. Luckily we can see C-3PO and R2-D2 having its origins revealed. We see R2-D2 has built and actively helping in the battle showing its importance for the Rebels. Already we see that C-3PO was built by the young Anakin on Tatooine, showing the ability of the boy and the audience cheering, mainly to see the robot still unfinished.
Jar Jar Binks is a separate chapter that caused the revolt of many fans. The computerized character, which has voice actor Ahmed Best, is one of the most hated characters of fiction. Initially scheduled to present a new race of intergalactic beings who have critical involvement in the Battle of Naboo, and also to be the comic relief of the film, since no R2-D2 and C-3PO talks was still unfinished and was left on Tatooine, the character tries several times to make the audience laugh through jokes inserted incorrectly. The way you talk and walk untypical muddled character were also heavily criticized by critics. George Lucas, realizing the rejection decreases to almost nothing character's participation in the subsequent films, especially in "Revenge of the Sith.
The cast includes Ewan McGregor plays a young Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guiness and earlier does well, as well as the still young but already talented Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala / Padmé, who had previously only done the filmLéon (1994 ) as the most prominent. Liam Neeson, once again shows off his trademark ability and creates the Jedi more interesting of the entire saga, with its code of ethics and unwavering kindness. Ian McDiarmid as Senator Palpatine is also key to the plot. Unfortunately both the actors as their characters do not have the same charisma and charm that Luke, Han Solo and Princess Leia had.
After so many years, the greatest curiosity was how technology could help in the construction of that universe extremely interesting built in the three previous films, without letting that seen before, that goes almost two decades of the events of this movie, stay obsolete. Everything would have to be the most charming and new technology, without diminishing the quality of the previous films and give the impression that an environment that is going on 19 years before the original trilogy, could be greater than the universe that appear later in the chronological order of the story. That all technical aspects are really impressive. If in 1977 we've been introduced to a previously unimaginable world, over 20 years after the ILM could only be overcome even more.
The art direction team formed by Phil Harvey, Fred Hole, John King, Rod McLean and Peter Russell is splendid. We keep being presented with the traditional battles in space, and we can still see entire cities built like the Gungan, even more interesting by visual underwater. Also impossible not to feel nostalgia and that familiar feeling when seeing the crew of the ship descend on Tatoonie. The same landscape and semi-arid climate of the place are present again in a very beautiful work of photography David Tattersall. The special effects, overused and being privileged over the script, take the technology of the time to a level previously unknown. There are wonderful scenes in space, underwater, and racing pods, a lightsaber fight at the end of the projection, and the great Battle of Naboo. It really is hard to imagine many of these scenes being held in 1977, and Lucas made sure to make it clear that his decision to start the episode IV was the right one. And all these effects and scenes were once again packed the trail master John Williams. Anyway, the movie entertains a lot. Even with the faults mentioned, we feel that the franchise could be even more impressive than before and that technological advances alone would add to the series. The expectation for the episodes II and III only increased.