I had read all of the reviews of the film, and was...

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 1999)

I had read all of the reviews of the film, and was prepared for it to be horrible. I was pleasantly surprised...it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be, based on the reviews.
Did it have its faults? Of course. Jar-Jar was annoying. Darth Maul wasn't on screen for nearly long enough. Those quasi-Oriental Trade Federation guys with no noses bothered me. But all in all, it was what I expect from a Lucas film.
And what is that? Great special effects...the pod race was wild, and the landscapes phenomenal. Terrific fight scenes...particularly the one between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan.
And, of course, what I consider to be one of Lucas' trademarks: bad dialogue. Terrifically bad dialogue. This is my major problem with the original trilogy, and it was my biggest complaint about Episode 1 as well. Lucas has such incredible plots...one would think that, somewhere along the production line, someone would take him aside and say "Mr. Lucas, you have an incredible story, but your dialogue is awful." My friends were bothered by the large amount of 20th century American idioms in the film, but frankly, I'd rather listen to idiom after idiom than the stilted, "no one would *ever* say that" dialogue that Lucas typically uses.
The actors did a good job with their poorly written lines...Neeson was, not surprisingly, an excellent Jedi knight. Ewan MacGregor was wonderful, as well...it's too bad he was left out of a lot of the action. I'm hoping for more from him in Episodes 2 and 3, rather than having him be the second banana. Jake Lloyd was just as good as I'd expect a 9-year-old to be. Natalie Portman and Pernilla August carried their roles very well. And Ian McDiarmid played Palpatine perfectly.
When I go to a movie, I don't necessarily ask for...nor expect...an overall Oscar-caliber performance. I ask to be interested in the movie, and above all I ask to be entertained. This movie will certainly not be a critical success, and it will not go down as one of the "best movies of all time." But, quite frankly (and this is from a big Star Wars fan), I don't think that *any* of the Star Wars films qualify for that. They are entertaining and thought provoking, but they are not (special effects aside) high quality movies. If you're expecting a masterpiece, go see something else. But if you want to be entertained, then go see The Phantom Menace, and you won't be disappointed.