Magnificent- solid- teasing

Rating: 5/10 (4 May 2000)

These are three adjectives to describe my feelings after seeing The Phantom Menace the first time. It is a magnificent film rife with sfx that are unbelievable. Its plot is solid and it leaves the viewer craving more.
A couple of points that have been stated about this movie is that it is racist, its plot is weak, and it doesn't compare to any of the trilogy.
First, the people who view this movie as a racist picture targeting African-American and other racial groups are off base. George Lucas is simply attempting to tell a story about other worldly creatures not influence people to become bigots. Jar-Jar is an annoying character, but he is not a veiled insult at African-Americans. That is simply outlandish.
Second, the purpose of this film is to lay the ground work for the following two. If you read the first chapter of a book and then stopped would that not be lose ends to tie up? How many of the trilogy stand by themselves without leaving obvious strings for the others to tie up? In 10-15 years SW2 and 3 have been released all of this talk will be long forgotten because they are meant to be viewed together, not as independent films separated by years.
Third, this movie does hold its weight against the original trilogy. Have any of you actually watched the trilogy with an open mind? The acting is not good and the special effects are lacking. People today have enshrined these movies as almost untouchable and this seems a bit off. I love the trilogy, especially Return, but it doesn't mean that they are perfect movies.
Distance will create love for this movie.