Special Effects A+, story C-

Rating: 6/10 (6 June 2005)

When I first heard that George Lucas was going to be doing another trilogy that was going to be a prequel to the original trilogy I was excited. As I grew up in the mid 1980's nothing was more cool than Star Wars, Transformers, and Voltron. Though, as I have gotten older I can still have a appreciation for Star Wars even as an adult. The original story and plot lines were superb and the special effects were amazing for its time. The Phantom Menace rather, although it is up to date with all the newest special effects tricks, fails at telling as great of a story as the old films. You are in awe at all the new special effects, but the character development and relationships that those characters have with each other are weak and boring. In the old films I felt like I really got to know the characters individually. Who can forget Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Chewbacca? Whereas now I feel like Anakin Skywalker is being presented as the only important character and all the others are just fillers that really aren't that important. In the end I have to give the movie an A+ on special effects, but only a C- on story and character development. Watch it once, but don't buy on DVD.