What I should have expected, not what I hoped for

Rating: Null/10 (17 August 2000)

This movie got a lot of bad comments mostly because it wasn't what people thought it would be. I think everyone expected all three previous Star Wars movies all rolled into one. I was a bit disappointed when I left the theater the first time, although I thought the movie was a lot of fun. I'm not a kid anymore so I have much higher expectations, and am not as easily overwhelmed with the warriors religion of the force. That's my problem, and I shouldn't have expected to get the same rush I did when I watched the old Star Wars films.
Overall, it was still an excellent movie that I've seen three times now. I think it stayed with the tradition of the first three movies of keeping a simple plot in a complex world. The Star Wars series does what no other science fiction movie has done in creating an immense and complex system with wars and battle stations that we see through the eyes of an unsuspecting hero. The Phantom Menace continued with this ability, but went a little too far in the simplicity of the plot, or at least its irrelevance to what eventually happens.
I have other criticisms of the film. I think they made this too much of a kid movie. Not that I'm against kid movies, but imagine Darth Vader strangling an officer for failing to complete a mission in this film, it doesn't fit in with where the series was originally going. Kids are a better target for merchandising, and this seemed to really guide the movie making. The first Star Wars was much more serious, and nearly every kid in America was dressing up like Luke Skywalker and making his own light saber. The level of childness in the film was unnecessary. The kid that played Anikan Skywalker was not very good and was way too young. I think a twelve or thirteen year old boy would have been much more believable, and they could have found one at that age that had developed acting skills. The audience knows nothing of the early age required to start training a jedi knight, so why not make a twelve year old too old in the eyes of Yoda. Also, I think it's a lame trick to use an entire movie to get you hooked on the next movie. At the end of the film, the senator becomes chancellor, but we'll have to wait till the next film before anything real important happens. They should have removed a little bit of the cute stuff (i.e. Anikan and Mom, the Jar-Jar sub movie) and carried the political developments further with this film. It sort of had the feel of the last TV show of the season.
Too bad Liam Neeson's character died in the movie, he was awesome, and I wish I could plan on seeing him again.