Relax. It's only a movie.

Rating: 1/10 (24 May 1999)

Lucas is getting old. And so is his imagination. The Phantom Menace is not a terrible movie. It isn't even a bad one. The problem is: it's a Star Wars movie. Which means it has to stand next to classics like the original Star Wars (10/10, my score), The Empire Strikes Back (10/10), and The Return of the Jedi (8/10). And there's where it fails.
The cutesy factor -which almost ruined Return of the Jedi- was a sign of things to come. Boy, is this movie cute. From the ready-for-action-figure Gungans characters, to the stupid Federation droids (which look like something between a duck and Calista Flockhart), to the future Darth Vader, known now as Macaulay Skywalker, or something like that. The result is a kiddie movie, which, would've been okay, if the original Star Wars series were kiddie films in the first place.
On the other side, the film visuals are astonishing. There is no doubt this will end up as the best especial effects film of the 20th Century. Unsurprisingly, the John William's soundtrack is also worth the ticket price alone. Pity the plot isn't as state of the art as the rest of the film. Just compare Phantom Menace
scenes with similar scenes from the original series (and believe me, they are many), and you'll see how superior the previous ones were. Another sign that
bigger doesn't always mean better.
But, hey: It's Star Wars, and therefore you MUST see it, right? Lucas deserves to light his cigars with thousand dollar bills! And I'm evil because I say phantom menace is only a flick. How dare I to say such terrible things? How can I be so ignorant? Well, it's just my opinion