Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition)

Among the host of new characters, there are a few familiar walk-ons. We witness the first meeting between R2-D2 and C-3PO, Jabba the Hutt looks younger and slimmer (but not young and slim), and Yoda is as crabby as ever. Natalie Portman's stately Queen Amidala sports hairdos that make Princess Leia look dowdy and wields a mean laser. We never bond with Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), and Obi-Wan's day is yet to come. Jar Jar Binks, a cross between a Muppet, a frog, and a hippie, provides many of the movie's lighter moments, while Sith Lord Darth Maul is a formidable force. Baby-faced Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) looks too young and innocent to command the powers of the Force or wield a lightsaber (much less transmute into the future Darth Vader), but his boyish exuberance wins over skeptics.

Near the end of the movie, Palpatine, the new leader of the Republic, may be speaking for fans eagerly awaiting Episode II when he pats young Anakin on the head and says, "We will watch your career with great interest." Indeed! --Tod Nelson

Product Description
Luke skywalkers father is just a hopeful 9-year-old boy named anakin who knows nothing of his eventual fate as a dark lord in years to come. In this earlier time obi-wan kenobi is a determined young jedi knight. Qui-gon jinn is obi-wans venerable jedi master teaching the jedi way to his apprentice. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/12/2006 Starring: Liam Neeson Natalie Portman Run time: 133 minutes Rating: Pg Director: George Lucas

"The Phantom Menace" is definetly not on par with that film, nor has it the originality of "A New Hope", but still I liked this film a lot. I actually found it better than "Return Of The Jedi". Even those who dispised the movie must acknowledge that it has its merits. The special effects are fantastic, and in contrast to other films with superior FX, they are also highly imaginative because they create entire worlds of their own. Individual action-setpieces are among the most exhilarating of the decade (the pod-race or the final lightsaber-duel among others) and John William's score is one of the major assets again.

Many complained that Jar Jar Binks is too silly and childish. This criticism is understandable though I think many people overreacted with their hatred towards this character. He actually has some funny moments. That the film doesn't have a villain that is as effective as Darth Vader is true and false. The villain does not YET appear as the villain which will (hopefully) make him even more evil in the next pictures. The decision to conceal the true menace (careful viewers still found it of course) is already implied in the Episode's title, so it was obviously deliberate. This must be the reason why Darth Maul is used so rarely. The character has just no significance for the whole saga. One must not forget that TMP is not a film, but the first two hours of a 13-hour-saga. It was therefore inevitable that it would be less dramatic as "Empire".

The bottom line is that despite some shortcomings, Episode I effectively sets up the future Episodes. I agree with those who say that George Lucas should have underlined some of the darker aspects of the story more than he did. Let's hope he will do so in the next two chapters which have the potential to become even stronger movies. If the new trilogy finally sucks, it won't be because of "The Phantom Menace".


Confusing but captivating   October 15, 2001
David Simon (Utah)
105 out of 134 found this review helpful

For some reason, I received this DVD several days before the issue date, so when the weekend TV promotions for it claimed that it would set "the new standard for DVDs," I was qualified to nod my head in total agreement. In fact, nothing in my DVD collection matches the quality of this superb product. It is a great transfer in every respect, and the extras are mind boggling.

Unlike most people who will buy this DVD, my viewing of it was also my first viewing of "Star Wars I - The Phantom Menace," because I never caught it when it was in the theaters. I had read and heard all the negative reports, though, countered by some enthusiasm from diehard Star Wars fans, so my expectations weren't very high as to the story. My expectations as regards the visuals were very high, though, because of trailers that I had downloaded from the Net, and this DVD did not disappoint me.

I'm sure that seeing this movie on the big screen would be much better. It always is. But even on my 17" Sony computer monitor (set for anamorphic, full resolution) the visuals are lavish and astonishing. The pod race and the climactic battleground scene look so real ... well, they look real! Incredibly real! Even when paused and advanced a frame at a time, the pod race action looks like the real thing. In the real world, objects racing past a camera lens produce a blurred image that is more blurred the closer to the camera, less so as the distance increases. In order to be convincing, animation must do the same thing. The sorcerers at ILM have done this to perfection, combining real images and computer generated ones, matching surround sound to the action, and giving us so many simultaneous tracking movements our heads begin to spin, as though we are riding one of those wild, carreening "pods" through the jagged stone walls and screeching over the desert race course.

But enough about "special effects" (I hate that phrase). What everyone seems to carp about most is the story...and the actors, especially the young actor chosen to play Anakin Skywalker. More about the story in a minute. Let's talk about the boy first. I admit to long being mystified as to why this particular youngster (Jake Lloyd) was chosen. In the previews I had seen, he seemed dull, uninspired, almost disinterested. Viewing the actual film, I was of much the same opinion at first, but he did start to grow on me. It was only later, on viewing the multitudinous "making of" documentaries on disk 2 (see especially "3000 Anakins"!), where his auditions can be compared to those of two other boys, that I began to realize that he had actually been an excellent choice. What, then, is the reason that his on-screen performance seems at times so lackluster? After viewing this film, I firmly believe that the true culprit was sloppy and careless directing, not this inexperienced nine year old boy. In many of the peeks we get into the actual filming sessions, there seems to be an attitude of "let the kid be himself," with apparently the first take often being accepted as good enough because he's satisfyingly "unpredictable." This not only seems to have been the case in the direction (or lack of it) of young Lloyd, but in many of the scenes that did not include him. Having seen the kid's audition, I believe he was probably capable of delivering a great Anakin, but he was rarely if ever challenged, coached, or directed to do so. Result -- mediocrity that is by no means the kid's fault. He was only nine, so the fault must lie with the adults, and it plainly does. Jake's performances are by no means the only wooden ones in this movie.

Now to the story: I didn't fathom it, but this incredible flick is so entertaining in all its many other aspects, I really didn't care. In truth, I'm not a Star Wars fan. Never have been. So when that mob of oddly dressed wooden characters began babbling about Senators and treaties and Federations and other such mish-mosh, I gave up, relaxed, and just enjoyed the music and the backgrounds. A second and third viewing of SW-I will probably begin to clear things up for me -- but really, the action itself is so appealing, an actual story would seem almost an impediment to the enjoyment of this visual and sonic tour de force.

If you're a Star Wars fan and know the basic story and all the characters, then you will pick up on that aspect of things a lot quicker than I did, and will enjoy this movie again and again, I'm sure. But, from my point of view, it is a tribute to George Lucas and all the immensely talented people who gave us this treasure, that a detailed story isn't really all that necessary. For the casual viewer, just having a rough idea of what's going on is enough. The pure visceral experience of SW-I is worth four stars alone, and that's what I give "The Phantom Menace."

Technically, though, the DVD transfer is a solid 5 stars. In terms of bang for the bucks, it's off the scale!


Where's the DVD   January 29, 2000
Advaith Thampi (Bakersfield, California USA)
85 out of 129 found this review helpful

All right, here's the deal. I love Star Wars and i have already pre-ordered it but... I want it to come out on DVD. Come on the graphics would be soooo sweet. And I can't even imagine the special features.


5 stars for DVD quality, 3 stars for the movie   October 24, 2001
David J. Huber (New York, NY United States)
73 out of 102 found this review helpful

I'm reviewing only the DVD, and not the movie itself, which was a bit of a stinker, in my opinion. Well produced, beautifully filmed, but very poorly written.

Anyway - this is an awesome and incredibly well done DVD. Lots and lots of extras. Great commentary by Lucas, the producer, the sound man, etc. Interview with the composer. Lots and lots and LOTS of background materials on the making of the film, and the entire process of putting it together from initial writing to final production, and the making of the DVD itself.

The image of the movie is *very* crisp and clean. The deleted scenes are a nice addition to the movie. I am very impressed (and surprised, to be cynical about it) that Lucas has given us the full-featured DVD the first time out, and not offered us one scaled down DVD version, only to offer us a better version in a year, and then the full-scale one a year after that, like he's constantly done with the VHS versions of his movies. Thank you, Lucas, for taking care of your fans this time, and not trying to pad your pockets a few times before giving the fans what they *really* want.

Quality-wise, this is absolutely one of the most loaded, best-featured DVDs I have in my collection.

(as a p.s. - after hearing Lucas' commentary, and talking about some things coming up in the next movies, I have realized that a few things I criticized about this movie actually make sense oin terms of the upcoming story-line. However, I still think that, overall, the writing for this movie was only a cut above old b-movies)


I need to vent.   April 20, 2000
Jeffery Rowe (Edgewater, NJ)
65 out of 86 found this review helpful

Hmmm. What to say about `The Phantom Menace'? I waited how many years to see this "grand vision" of George Lucas?

I will make this as short, sweet and painless as possible. Let's start out just by saying this has got to be THE biggest disappointment in film history. Mr. Lucas, claimed on `Episode IV' that there was more to the story to bring us up to the 1978 masterpiece `Star Wars' (and I'm not talking about the tainted Special Edition version either.). With the coming of `Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace', this film has proved to me that there was no story of the sort. I feel that what was once a grandiose, intricately visioned perception of an outer-worldly saga is now all worth nothing.

`Phantom Menace' starts out with the traditional mammoth text run. The almost-holy yellow letters that grace the screen and flow upward into space accompanied by the magic theme that millions of people have grown to love. What could go wrong...right? This unfortunately proves to be the best part of the whole film. The damage could be seen within a few short moments. Before we know it, Ewan McGregor appears on screen as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi and utters the now famous line, "I've got a bad feeling about this." Well let me tell you, as I sat in the theater in anticipation, $10 ticket-stub in hand, third row from the front, opening night, a tiny voice in my head whispered, "So do I, Obi-Wan...So do I."

With acting bad enough to make you cry, a COMPLETE lack of plot and absolutely tasteless "looky-what-we-can-do" effects this piece of trash carries on and on getting worse by the minute forming a self-satire, if you will, a cartoon of the modern myth Lucas has created thus far. Goofy, English speaking aliens with ethnic accents and an immaculate-conception `shocker!' idea for the birth of Anakin Skywalker are just two things that make this movie flat-out absurd. `Episode I' quickly develops into a silly, mocking rendition of what the original three were. `Phantom Menace' is like a `Diet Star Wars'. A mini-version of the real `Star Wars' dipped in undiluted liquid brainlessness, hung out to dry for an hour and sold in a shrink-wrapped container with a cardboard backing. A `Star Wars' that I wish would just admit, "Just kidding! This isn't REALLY a full installment of the best science fiction series ever."

The Players:

Jake Lloyd trots his dry, barely television commercial-caliber talent as the young Anakin Skywalker. A new standard of awful is achieved with his two-dimensional portrayal of the young boy who eventually becomes the silver screens' most notorious villain. Sad.

Liam Neeson is notably repulsive as Qui-Gon Jin, the Jedi mentor whose force mind-control attempts never quite work on anyone. (? ) It makes you wonder, "Ha, ha, ha! This isn't really part of the script, ...is it?"

Ewan McGregor solely puts a worthy performance into his character, the young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Part of me feels sorry for McGregor though in this case, because from viewing his effort in this film shows that he has had hope for `Phantom Menace' throughout production. But now seeing the first nightmarish results of this movie, he may understand now what the next two episodes will bring.

Natalie Portman plays the poorly written part of Queen Amidala (or is it Padme now! I'm not quite sure!), Anakin's future love-interest, and future mother of twins Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. Um... yeah.

R2D2 and the skinless C3PO make their inevitable appearance and we observe how they meet. Seeing the familiar duo again made this movie worth not walking out on. But their cameos made it clear that Lucas really had no clue where he wanted this movie to go and thought he would throw them in somewhere to give the audience some kind of closure with the story.

The 30-some year younger Yoda is seen in all his high glory. Yoda seems awkwardly misdirected in his few scenes. What, I guess, develops into a highly intelligent and focused being...well...seems to start out here as a confused and bewildered (not to mention badly constructed) puppet. I dunno, you figure it out.

The cheaply horned and "lets just throw some paint on his face" foe Darth Maul, played by a professional martial artist I-forget-his-name fights a lot. The fight scenes are cool... Yep... that's about it.

And ahhhhhh who could forget `Star Wars's' worst addition since the Jabba the Hutt/Han Solo scene in `Star Wars: Special Edition', Jar-Jar Binks. What needs to be said about Jar-Jar that hasn't been said already? All I can say is I would rather have my fingernails ripped out one by one with pliers than experience Jar-Jar Binks again. What was George Lucas thinking! (Um... Did he just say ex-squeeze me?)

--`Episode I' ultimately collapses into a pile of mindless drivel, insulting the `Star Wars' name and losing at least my personal faith in hoping for a redemption in future episodes. With its expensive Saturday morning cartoon-like effects, the movie fails to be crutched by anything to aid it from self-destruction. From the yawnable pod race scene to the paper-mache robot army, this movie has got TERRIBLE written all over it. George Lucas, the man who brought us `THX-1138', `American Graffiti' and the flawless `Star Wars' Trilogy has plopped one of the worst movies ever made into our laps after 16 years in the waiting. I would say that `Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace' is just like any other Hollywood piece of junk being cranked out nowadays, but I can't, simply because of the huge runway of potential it had to run on. What had the best possibility of being the greatest and most loved science fiction film, resulted in the worst possible execution. For big fans, the dawning of `Episode I' is truly that of mourning. I don't think I will be buying anymore action figures.