A captivating return to childhood fantasy, a must see !

Rating: 8/10 (23 May 1999)

This is a difficult movie to comment on because there has been a great deal of waiting and anticipation. I was one of those youngsters that saw the original Star Wars in the theatre and have waited a long time for this. While I expect to see lavish usage of computer generated special effects, I also am expecting two hours of absolutely wonderful entertainment. George Lucas has hand rolled yet another captivating volume from the "Star Wars" tale with "The Phantom Menace". I would hazard to guess that no one except Scrooge would be unhappy with this film. Do not, under any circumstances expect to see anything approaching "Dances With Wolves" or "Citizen Kane". Expect fun and a lot of eye candy and you will be more than satisfied. There are some glaring plot problems and general inconsistencies that kept my vote from attaining a lofty value of 9. I would barely give this movie an 8 because I must round it up from a 7.5. Why? I don't want to spoil the movie but it is obvious to anyone over the age of ten that there are some real glaring plot conflicts between this episode and the original "Star Wars : A New Hope". The character "Jar Jar Binks" should, in my humble opinion, be omitted entirely or replaced with a real human. The computer generated Binks was still in the experimental stage and should have been left in the computer labs digital cutting room floor. That aside, "The Phantom Menace" is simply the best family movie in the cinema for a very long time. I would recommend that everyone gather up the children and go see a story from long ago and far far away ....