Grand Disappointment

Rating: 3/10 (8 August 1999)

I carefully avoided the hype (no Pepsi products for me, thanks), but my own history as a Star Wars devotee provided sufficiently high expectations that this otherwise forgettable, forgivable, or even mildly enjoyable sci-fi spectacle hit me as a grave and bitter disappointment.

We all know the three-word name for this movie's greatest flaw: Jar Jar Binks. But even without that intrusive and wholly unamusing comic relief, The Phantom Menace was too unfocused and too uneven. There is too much going on for any characters or plot elements to be explored. The compelling presence of Liam Neeson is wasted by the filmmakers who give him nothing interesting to do or say. Overall, I get the impression of a studio so enthralled by their digital FX capabilities that they forgot to make a good movie to carry those visual fireworks.
You've heard this all before. So what's good? The backgrounds are beautiful. The costuming is imaginative. The Jedi fight scenes are very exciting. Neeson and Natalie Portman are both quite attractive. And the digital character animation is an admirable accomplishment.
My final appraisal: this was not a complete waste of six bucks. See it a couple times at the dollar show.	Don't buy it on video.