A Truly Wonderful First Episode!

Rating: 8/10 (22 May 1999)

"The Phantom Menace" was a movie that I was going to see regardless of what the critics said. I must admit that when I first heard a lot of the early reviews, I went into this movie expecting the worse. I knew that I would probably be very disappointed with it.
I was NOT!!
I must tell you that what other people have said negatively about this movie (that Jar Jar is hard to understand and that he is annoying, that the acting of all the major characters is a total bore, and that Lucas has overdone the CGI), I found NONE of them to be true.
I loved the fact that a new character named Qui Gon Jin (Liam Neeson) had the most important role in the movie, more so than Obi Wan (Ewan McGregor) did. In my opinion, this is necessary as we had to know more of Obi Wan's beginnings and who trained him before we can fully understand and appreciate the upcoming conflicts that will grow between Obi Wan and his first apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, in the next two movies.
It's no easy task for a director to pull this off since everyone in the theater already knows the eventual outcome of these two ill-fated 'heroes'.
Yes, the special effects in this movie are fantastic, as are the art work, sound and costumes. Every aspect of this production is top-notch! It definitely has Lucas written all over it!
Simply a great Overture to the Star Wars saga!!!
Oh, and one last thing....
The CGI character of Jar Jar Binks is no more difficult to understand than was Yoda the first time we were all introduced to him back in 1980. Just like Yoda, it took a little time to get used to his voice and dialect. Jar Jar doesn't take away from this film at all!