It's good, even worth the hype, but it's not Star Wars

Rating: 8/10 (21 May 1999)

I love star wars. ANH and TESB both got 10s from me and ROTJ was in there with a 9. why the nine? those annoying ewoks. now we have the phantom menace. it has the best effects ever. the most awesome bad guy ever, the coolest sabor fights EVER (really fast moves, lots of flips, really really incredible), and a jaw dropping pod race... it gets an 8. why you ask? two reasons: first, that annoying fish guy ja ja needs to take a flying leap. every time that salmon opened his mouth i started to make fists and grind my teeth. if you thought the ewoks were annoying, wait till you get a load of this guppie. the second problem was the flow. it was choppy. the smooth start to finish feel of the original three is gone. part of the reason for this problem is that George had to tell a more complicated story and answer some long unanswered questions. the choppy feel can be forgiven because it allows us to learn a lot about the star wars universe. that annoying fish, however, cannot be forgiven. i can think of only one explanation for his dumb antics and stupid lines: george is abandoning his original audience and concentrating on 5 year olds. could this be why people in TPM can get socked right in the eye without showing any physical evidence of the blow (unlike luke in TESB, the people in this movie do not look beat up after what was almost as tough a fight as the Bespin duel)? did Lucas sell out in hopes of making more money on action figures? say it aint so, George. all in all, i recommend this movie for the reasons stated above, but keep in mind that it does not have the magic that the original three had. the sad part is that it could have. if someone had cut most of ja ja's lines out and if Anakin's conflicting feelings about leaving home were explored more, we would have gotten a star wars movie. If the sabor fight and pod race were longer, we would have gotten a really good star wars movie.