Candy for the eye, nothing for the sole.

Rating: Null/10 (21 May 1999)

Lucas' highly anticipated (to put it lightly) Star Wars, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace doesn't live up to the hype, but what the hell could. The media and the fans have made such a fuss about the prequel that the filmmakers were automatically put in a bad situation: trying to make a film that could provide enough entertainment to justify a one month wait in line.
I went in with no high expectation and didn't come out with anymore. The film looks great with its 2000 visual effects, Williams' score is fantastic (as usual), the sound and spectacle are at the peak of motion picture capabilities. But, Lucas himself is out of practice, not sitting in the director's chair for over twenty years. The film lacks any emotion and the characters do not stretch any further than when they were on the page. The scenes which could have (and should have) been very moving, such as when Anakin leaves his mother, were flat and lifeless. Jake Lloyd was surprisingly well cast, as well as Neeson and Portman. Every single minor character was horrible and hard a great deal of difficulty delivering Lucas' exposition and completely scripted dialogue.
The film's best scene was when Liam Neeson's character and Dark Maul were saber fighting while Obi Won watched on the other side of the force field. Obi Won witnessed his mentor's death which impulsed him into a rage which resulted in Maul's demise. This explains why Obi Won allowed Vader to kill him in the original Star Wars: because it was Luke's destiny to witness his master's death and was the catalyst for all events which lead to his achievement of a Jedi Master.
Although, most of the film is just special effects with a weak story, an unexploited conflict and lifeless characters. I enjoyed it in terms of watching a film but there was nothing to feel - but this is Star Wars we are talking about here, it is far from Titanic on many, many levels.