A Great Childhood Memory - Not a Quality Film

Rating: 6/10 (23 March 2006)

Ah, Star Wars - the cinema of my childhood. I was practically raised on the original trilogy - I must have been two years old when I first watched it. Despite the fact that I obviously could not fully comprehend what I was seeing, I loved every minute of it right away. I have never stopped adoring the original trilogy - they remain some of my most beloved films to this day.
I was ten years old when The Phantom Menace came out back in 1999. I was still drooling over the grand experience of the seeing the Special Edition trilogy two years prior, and I had all but worn out every copy of the trilogy I could get my hands on. I was more than ready for my next Star Wars theater experience. The timing couldn't have been more perfect.
I'll never forget sitting in the theater - my stomach a black hole of anticipation - waiting for the film to begin. The 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm logos appeared - I grinned one of the biggest grins of my life. "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." My fists were clenched. A sudden burst of John Williams' iconic score accompanied by the yellow Star Wars logo...at that point, it was safe to say it was the greatest moment of my life. For the next 2+ hours, I watched in awe, lapping up every second of Lucas' gigantic sci-fi spectacle. I was one happy kid. I left the theater in a state of bliss. My parents weren't crazy about the movie, but I managed to coax my grandpa into taking me again the next day. I sat in the back of the theater whispering every nerdy detail of the plot into his ear, still grinning with glee the whole time. Even then I was able to recognize that it was nowhere near as good as the original trilogy, but that didn't stop me from loving every second of it. The Phantom Menace was one of the defining moments of my childhood.
Unfortunately, age and repeat viewings have not been too kind to Episode I. My last viewing before writing this review was the first time I had seen the film in about two years. I finally saw the flaws everyone else had been seeing.
The film is far from a total failure, but it certainly is one hell of a mess. I think it would be easiest to review using pros and cons.
Pros: +Liam Neeson makes for a damn good Jedi. He feels genuinely fatherly and wise. +Ray Park and Ian McDiarmid are terrific villains. +John Williams' score is as magnificent as ever. This is one I can still listen to independently. It's big, epic, and beautiful. +Lucas still does a very good job creating huge, lush worlds that truly immerse the viewer. +The lightsaber choreography is better than ever. +The pod-race scene is oh-so-much fun. +The final inter-cut action sequence of the Naboo Palace battle, the Gungans vs. the droids ground battle, the space battle above Naboo, and the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan/Darth Maul lightsaber fight is simply drool-worthy. A fantastic scene comparable to the similarly inter-cut climactic battle sequence in Return of the Jedi.
Cons: -The special effects, while great for 1999, have, like any CG effects would, dated severely over the years and many of the CG characters now look like they are straight out of Shrek. -The direction is utterly terrible. I don't know what happened to Lucas between the '70s and 1999; he proved he could direct more than competently with THX 1138 (which is a brilliant and highly underrated film), American Graffiti, and Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. For some reason, he is even worse than amateur here. Every shot feels distractingly staged, and the acting is wooden all around (and it's certainly not the fault of the fine cast). -I do not think I need to comment on the character of Jar-Jar Binks or Jake Lloyd's even-horrible-for-a-child-actor performance. -There are many attempts at childish comic relief that just feel out of place and unnecessary. Lucas even resorts to a fart joke on one occasion. -The Yoda puppet looks terrible. I cannot fathom how they were able to make him look so real in 1980, yet so fake in 1999. -Lucas seems to make a real attempt at political intrigue in this film. It's a great idea and could have been fascinating, but it is ruined by a lot of juvenile dialogue and scenarios. -There seem to be a lot of subtle(ish) racial stereotypes. I'm not sure if they were intentional or not, but they're there nonetheless. -They kill off Darth Maul, who was easily the most interesting character in the film. He had so much potential.
This film is just a mangling. It was a great big screen experience, but unlike the original trilogy, it really doesn't translate well to home viewing (this isn't helped by the fact that the DVD has an awful, outdated transfer), and it certainly doesn't hold up to critical scrutiny. I'm sure I'll still watch and enjoy it from time to time, but overall this film is, for me, better looked at as a great cinematic memory and not as quality film-making.