GOOD THINGS OUTWEIGH THE BAD HUMOR AND ANNOYING CHARACTERS

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 1999)

After being such a big fan of the original trilogy, I often wondered how George Lucas could top it. But "The Phantom Menace", despite a lot of negative reviews by critics, is destined to become a classic.
I wish I could go back to May 19th when I was in the very first screening of the movie, when the words "A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY" reappeared on the screen for the first time in 16 years. And then STAR WARS flashed across the screen, followed by the scroll and eruption from the audience.
This is not your typical "Star Wars" movie, mind you. But you do have to remember, this is a set-up for Epsiodes II & III (which will appear in 2002 & 2005, respectively) when we will see young Anakin Skywalker (played brilliantly in TPM) by Jake Lloyd turn to the dark side. Parts of the film are slow and it does drag at times, especially the scenes on Tatoonie before the Pod Race. But you have to keep in mind, they couldn't just throw Anakin on screen without telling his story. They couldn't just say, here's Anakin, he's a hopeful jedi.
There are also characters in the film that are very annoying -- the Trade Viceroy and his fellow Nimoduians and Jar Jar Binks, who annoyed me within the first two minutes of his screen debut. It was clear that this movie was written for 10-year old children. There is too much humor and a lot of it is plain toilet humor (i.e. Jar Jar stepping in the pile of Bantha mess, the animal passing gas, etc.) The other thing I found disturbing was that Lucas took some things used in other "Star Wars" films and recycled them. (i.e. replace Ewoks w/Gungans). The end scene is a combination of the end scenes of "Return of the Jedi" and "Star Wars."
Other than these little annoyances, the film was excellent. Good story, exceptional special effects, good acting jobs by the main characters (Nesson, McGregor, Portman, Lloyd)... Overall, this ranks third of my favorite "Star Wars" movies. GRADE: B-