exciting, reminscent of episode 4, yet some stuff's not very cool

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 1999)

phantom menace was fast paced and exciting...it was very enjoyable. i know very little about the saga but it seemed to me a lot of time was used as basically set up for the next two films, just like i believe episode 4 does for 5 and 6. jar jar binks and his people are slightly more cool than the ewoks, but they still are not very cool and a little annoying. some creature(jar jar) seem too cute. the effects are cool, but some of the plot is a little predictable.