Definitely not a disappointment

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 1999)

Any Star Wars fan will LOVE this movie. And, even though I will probably get flamed to a crisp for writing any kind of criticism about this movie, I will go ahead and speak my peace.
Being the prequel for the original series makes some elements of the movie slightly predictable, such as the outcome of the light-sabre fight between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul.
I am sure anyone who has seen this movie will agree with me that Darth Maul, played by Ray Park, despite the fancy weaponry, has about as much personality as a loaf of wheat bread.
Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson, playing as a younger Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn, respectively, seemed to know and respect their parts EXTREMELY well.
Jake Lloyd, the young Anakin Skywalker, plays his part well for an actor his age. His mother, played by Pernilla August, offers the only real emotional acting the movie.
Having never read the books, I do not know if Queen Amidala, played by Natalie Portman, should have seemed as utterly emotionless as she did. For what it was, the part was played very well.
Being a computer generated character leaves little room flawed acting, and I must admit ILM did an excellent job on the 3-d characters such as Jar Jar Binks and the menacing Sebulba. The fluid motion of them and the other literally thousands of 3-d characters makes for a spectacle of its own, but the general personalities of the characters can still carry the scene even after these 3-d effects become passÃ© (give it ten or fifteen years).
Some minor points of humor make the movie stand out. The thrill seeking droid that gets sucked through a jet engine, Jar Jar knocking down deactivated robots after the control ship gets destroyed, a set of droid legs running around after being cut off from the body.
Altogether, George Lucas put The Phantom Menace together extremely well, and I believe that, even if the last four chapters were not already written, we could ALL definitely look forward to the sequels.