Disappointing lack of originality

Rating: 2/10 (22 June 1999)

Star Wars fanatics won't like this opinion. I'm a life-long sci-fi fan and was extremely disappointed in The Phantom Menace. It does include nifty digital effects, and perhaps that was Lucas' primary goal. But as I sat watching the movie, it didn't take long (opening credits and scene, actually), before I started asking, "Haven't we done this all before?"
The similarities between the plot of the Phantom Menace and the plot of Star Wars and Empire are many. I will only name a few here, and I will try to do it without spoiling anything for readers who have not yet watched the movie: queen/princess in trouble; Tattoine kid who wants a new life; need to obtain a ship to leave Tattoine; death of Jedi teacher at hands of symbol of Dark Side; ship needing to "thread the needle" to blow up bigger ship; ending victory celebration/ceremony. And those are just a FEW examples.
Worse, perhaps, than the similarities (after all, Lucas had to return us to the Star Wars universe and there will be similarities) was the utter lack of imagination in creating the aliens. That's right, LACK of imagination. Look at it this way: If you had to come up with a villain who was more evil than Darth Vader (a great villain, IMO), then what would be the most stereotypical concept you could create? Can you say, "SATAN!" Darth Maul looks like the devil. Big deal. Where is the creativity in that?
Want more? Consider the various aliens. There has been a minor stir over the accents and appearance of aliens such as JarJar (the 'Rasta), the trade reps (WWII "yellow menace" Japanese voices) and the junk shop owner (crusty Jewish dealer). This flap could have been avoided if the aliens just acted, well, ALIEN! Why did Lucas give aliens Earth-based accents? Couldn't he have come up with something original that caused the viewer to think, "Wow! Look at that! THAT is an alien!"
One digital scene that has been praised by some is the pod race. For me, this was the most boring scene in the movie. Why? Because you KNEW the outcome. It was predictable. If the outcome of the race had been different, and the ship had then found a new, surprising way to get off the planet, THAT would have been some imagination. As it was, it was a waste of 5-10 minutes while you waited for the inevitable.
I won't even get into acting (often wooden), the annoying JarJar, the misuse of characters (Darth Maul was on screen for what, 5 minutes? And HE was supposed to be the tool of the Dark Side?) or other plot holes. And what is the big "mystery" over Darth Sidius? We know that the Emporer Palpatine is in the future. So who do you think Sidious is? Is there a senator named Palpatine? Why, yes, I guess there is. So where is the mystery?
Phantom Menace, in my opinion, is Disneyesque. It is big on hype and marketing and very short on plot and story. That's sad, when you consider what the original Star Wars trilogy was. But that was 20 years ago. This is a different culture, and Phantom fits right in .. shallow, glitzy and satisfying only to those with a short attention span and few critical thinking skills.