A great start for the saga

Rating: 8/10 (20 August 1999)

As a die hard fan of the Star Wars trilogy, I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Episode 1. Now I've seen it, and I'm neither disappointed nor blissed. TPM is simply a good movie, especially for those of us already hooked on the SW world.
The Swedish critics have, like critics in other countries, given TPM some really bad reviews. What they seem to miss though, is that TPM is a very "SW" movie. It has all the ingredients of the former films, and therefore it is a worthy addition to the SW world, as well as a great piece of entertainment. But for some people (namely critics), this is not enough. I can stretch it as far as saying that this (i.e. copying the concept from the three former films) makes TPM the weakest in the saga. It could have been more innovative in this respect.
Some observations:
Sweden's biggest daily wrote that none of the actors are any good. This is completely false. In fact, most of the actors are as good as you would expect (come on, this is SW!), I was especially impressed by Jake Lloyd as Anakin. Liam Neeson is perfectly cast for his role, though it would have been interesting to see more sides of his character. Ahmed Best was great as Jar-Jar Binks, a character who managed to keep the movie from getting too serious.
The special effects were fantastic. Not one time was I distracted by the fact that so much in TPM is digitalized. Instead, it enhanced the movie.
Again: the original trilogy was better, but TPM is a great start for the saga, and it makes me sincerely long for Episode 2.
Rating: 8/10