In the light of Lord of the Rings, a BIG mistake

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2001)

George Lucas should never have made this movie. For a start, it's defaced the series. Second, there was never supposed to be more than three episodes. The 'Episode IV - VI' subtitles were just to add a Flash Gordon serial-sque quality to the movies, and to make the whole thing fell more epic. We were supposed to imagine what happened before, not have it served to us with with mountains of CGI.
And third, we now have Peter Jackson's superb The Fellowship of the Ring, and it's infinetly superior to The Phantom Menace in every respect. It makes a mockery of The Phantom Menace. And it looks very much like the Lord of the Rings trilogy will make a mockery of the Star Wars prequel trilogy as well.