Almost a remake of "Star Wars" (1977)

Rating: 1/10 (10 September 1999)

Twenty-two years after `Star Wars', George Lucas almost remade it with `The Phantom Menace': an invasion, a royal female in distress, two rescuing heroes, training of a young recruit, funny puppets, war scenes and a final prize-winning ceremony, with the added attraction of a sequence where Lucas' fascination with car races is evident. A too schematic and fragmented belligerent fable, a science-fiction tale with its feet sunk in the prosaic troubles of post-capitalism, this pre-sequel of the saga had the advantage of counting with two generations of fanatics, with trade-mark atmosphere, situations and characters, with a consolidated popular tradition, and the always efficient special effects machinery. Nevertheless, under the light of the school created by the 1977 film, this fourth part had all the look of one more from the bunch it originated.