*sigh*

Rating: 4/10 (14 November 2000)

Disappointing, to say the least.
This is a children's movie. By children, I mean the adolescent audience who is used to being pandered to, handed every bit of plot of a silver platter, and hammered with stereotype ad nauseum. Or, in other words, children under two. There is a significant difference between a children's movie and a family movie. This movie was a lot like an over-funded episode of Teletubbies, with a splash of attention-deficit-disorder, MTV-generation flash.
Special effects are a means, not an end. Superman is cool because he can fly, and special effects achieve that level of suspension of disbelief. Superman trailing a column of fire as he whizzes across the sky to crash into a plane, which explodes in a stock-rendered two-dimensional wave explosion is just silly.
Raise the stakes. Keep in mind that the entire universe is under threat of martial law from the Empire. This movie should be about the coalescing of power. We should see armies building, power plays made, political gambits taken, betrayal, murder, bribery, and lies. Taking over the universe is a dirty job, but someone has to do it. I think Star Wars only has two real stories in it. One is the creation, hubris, fall, and redemption of Annakin Skywalker. The other is the oppression of the people, birth of rebellion, and triumph over evil. This movie was set too early, and treated the subjects too lightly.
The acting was as good as you could expect given the writing. Lots of talent, but no backbone. I would be ashamed to recite the dialogue in public.
Conclusion? The Star Wars IV - VI trilogy was an epic, operatic story. Now, with the full resources of George Lucas, Skywalker Sound, Industrial Light and Magic, and the acting talent of Neeson, McGregor, McDiarmid, and Portman, this movie is the best you could come up with? I don't think so.
Star Wars, Episode 1 supercedes films the likes of Waterworld and Titanic as "The Best Movie Money Can Buy".