A truly amazing beginning to the best film series ever made.

Rating: 9/10 (9 June 1999)

To every one that has made criticisms about this movie whether it be about it stereotypes or it's racism or what have you, I just have one thing to say, lighten up. If someone has a Rastafarian accent or if another character has a big nose and owns slaves, does that mean that all of a sudden it's calculated and malicious racism? Some people live their lives just to bring up garbage like this. Are these people's lives so void of anything positive and fulfilling that they have to use the old racism angle to make themselves feel worthy and give their life some sort of meaning?
If Jar Jar is a rebirth of Kunta Kente and Watoo is a greedy Jewish slave owner, then what is Greedo and Jabba? Is Jabba an attack on all fat people saying that they are all lazy and have to be wheeled around and waited on hand and foot just to survive? Star Wars is fantasy, plain and simple. George Lucas' world has a variety of interesting and diverse characters inhabiting the universe and if anything he dispells racism by having so many species living in harmony.
Star Wars " The Phantom Menace " is a wonderfully entertaining film and it sets the stage for the next one and I loved it. And if people wouldn't go out of their way to find ridiculous ways to shout " racism " they would see that this was a fantastic movie, well worth seeing 5 or six times.
I love this movie. And I love Jar Jar. And in a world where now a days most movies are quite sub par, this is a refreshing throw back to what it used to be like when movies like Rambo and Raiders and Back To The Future and Ghostbusters and Star Wars used to grace our screens. They are entertaining, and isn't that what we want when all is said and done?