Panders to kids too much. EFX good, characters weak.

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 1999)

The Phantom Menace could not possibly live up to the hype and the pressure of the 16 year wait that preceeded it. While the special effects are good and the CGI does not ruin the movie, the constant one-liners and cheesy, underdeveloped characters keep the movie from rising to the level of it's predecessors. I hope Episodes II & III take recent criticism to heart and return the series to glory.