Visually dazzling, but emotionally empty.

Rating: 3/10 (21 May 1999)

Let me start by saying I am a HUGE Star Wars fan. I grew up with it and the original trilogy still remains among my favorite movies of all time. So, the question is, what did I think of Episode One: The Phantom Menace? Sadly, the answer is "not much".
I thought it didn't really seem like Star Wars. Too many "real world" references in it. (like those pod race commentators, for example.) Plus, I couldn't understand half the things Jar Jar Binks was saying... I was looking for the subtitles at the bottom of the screen because I didn't think he was speaking English! I would have edited his character majorly if I was in charge of the script. He seemed like a seven foot tall Jamaican platypus on speed. He was way too contrived. It was like they were going out of their way to make him overly cute or something... "oh, you know what would be funny? Let's have him get his foot stuck on a droid soldier and end up shooting 3 other droid soldiers... that'd be a hoot!" Was it their intention to make this more of a kids' movie? I think Jedi suffered from this "overly cute" factor too... although I liked Jedi better than I liked this movie.
The plot seemed a little confusing too. All this about trade federations,
the senate, the republic... it wasn't really clear to me what was good and what was evil. Sure, there were good & evil characters, but in the original trilogy we had the Rebellion (Good) and the Empire (Bad). It was clearly defined. Plus, was I the only one in the theater that saw just from the actors faces/voices that the Queen/her hand maiden and the Emperor/Palpatine were the same person? I guess it didn't help that I knew the Emperor's name was Palpatine from reading stuff about Jedi. It also felt like it wasn't a movie unto itself. Star Wars didn't feel like "chapter 1" (or 4) in a story. This definitely felt like a chapter 1. But I guess that's okay because we know there are going to be sequels. Even still though, each movie should be enjoyable on its own, regardless of what came before or after it.
People saw Star Wars over and over because it was a good movie. People are seeing this movie over and over because it's called "Star Wars".