Hype of the Year, Movie of the Summer

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 1999)

George Lucas does it again. Star Wars episode one: The Phantom Menace is the movie of the summer of 1999 for many reasons, one it had all the action that would compose of a great movie yet the movie had a multi-dimensional plot that would appeal to people at most age levels. If you do not compare it to the other Star Wars movies, it was a grand portrayal of the Jedi warrior Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi's quest to defend the planet Naboo from the evil trade federation, with a pit stop along the way. The movie has extremely refined special effects and an incredible score and music thanks to John Williams as always. But as always the only fault of this movie is that it resembled episode four(from 1976) and many of the scenes resembled scenes from the other movies. That may be a slight fault of the movie but the plot line was typical of star wars, a good versus evil battle with the ideals of the Jedi Force underlying the movie. I would recommend this movie to people who enjoy a light action movie and are very keen on science fiction although a love of science fiction is not necessary. I would not recommend this movie to people who look to a movie as an experience that will make a new statement, or a movie that will present a new experience in film viewing. Although this movie does not seem to be very original, Lucas still tells a good story and gives a great history on the Star Wars trilogy episodes 4,5,and 6, and what is more important, a movie that tells a new original story or a movie that keeps you entertained. I believe in the latter therefore I believe that this movie is going to be one of the best movies of the year and therefore is deserved of the hype.