A triumph of technology over substance.

Rating: 3/10 (4 June 1999)

For over twenty years I have truly loved the original Star Wars trilogy seeing each one at least 3 times in the theatre and endless times on video. Characters of substance whom I cared about blended with marvelous special effects to produce a true classic. That is Star Wars , "The Phantom Menace " is not. There is not a character here one cares for. Scotsman McGregor and Irishman Nessson are forced to adopt British accents for their role as Jedi Knights. Neeson sounds bored and McGregor come off sounding like Sir Hillary Whittittle. With their bored new age platitudes they seem less guardians of the universe than organic tofu salesman. The so called comic relief of Jar Jar is best left forgotten. One would of thought that the civil rights movement had banished such blatant stereotyping. Comments about Anakin Skywalker will be left out lest I be accused of child abuse. The pod race sequence is a rip off of the chariot race from "Ben Hur" right down to John Williams composing a Miklos Rozaish Roman march. The look of the film is spectacular but the core and substance of this film, the thing that made the originals classics, is glaringly hollow. Mr. Lucas has revealed another side of the Force. There is the light, the dark and now the boring. Stick with the originals.