2/5 Didn't quite do it for me
  by JDavid (Salinas, CA USA)
Although I enjoyed the look of "The Phantom Menace," and found many of the characters intriguing, the overall impact fell just short of 3 stars or my idea of the positive zone. There simply isn't enough depth to the story or characters to enable me to suspend my belief in the face of the unconvincing and slightly ridiculous Star Wars mythology. Maybe the point is not to pay attention to this stuff at all but I can't be satisfied by great action scenes and some nifty sci-fi settings alone.

4/5 Would've Been Five Stars If It Weren't For That Meddling Kid
  by D. Reed (Elkton, MD USA)
Yes, my main gripe, like many fans of the franchise, is Jake Lloyd. But to surprise a few people, I have no problems with Jar Jar Binks. He doesn't bother me in any way when I watch it. Do I think he was a little over the top? Yes. Do I think he, along with the Neimoidians, are racial stereotypes of Jamaicans and Asians respectively? No. The story is good but it can plod along at a very sluggish pace. For instance, once the story gets to Tatooine, they could've trimmed a few scenes, the Podrace imparticular. And some scenes on Coruscant feel slow as well, like the pointless scenes of watching Palpatine take the Queen to her apartment suite. Its brief but un-necessary. Liam Neeson does an admirable job as Qui-Gon, portraying him as a caring yet very formidable warrior. Ewan McGregor portrays Obi-Wan as a young, headstrong Jedi. The character at least goes through development over the course of the prequel trilogy and he'll eventually become the character from the "first" (fourth) film. Natalie Portman is alright as Queen Amidala but she's no Princess Leia. Though her hairdos can outdo Leia's and both are good with a blaster, the way the character's acted out comes across as wooden and stiff. And when Portman actually is the Queen, where does that deep, accented way of speaking come from? Is that Keira Knightley dubbing her voice when she's in the Queen's clothes? I don't know. And then there's Jake Lloyd, who's able to take the concept of what Anakin is to become in the future and make the character less intimidating. To know that in Vader's youth, he was prone to shout "Yipee!" and be called "Ani". That's not very threatening! Though I will give him credit for at least trying, its just that they did not capture the best (if there is any) performances of the actor and I'm pretty sure Lucas and the producers could've done A LOT better. There are some familiar faces from the original movies; Kenny Baker as R2-D2 (not much has changed over the course of six films) and his first meeting with a pre-gold plated C-3PO (still played by Anthony Daniels) and Ian McDiarmid as Senator (later Supreme Chancellor) Palpatine and his sinister alter ego, Darth Sidious. Darth Maul is a formidable villain for the film, though there always seems to be a co-villain in the newer films instead of just one singular villain, but I guess for all six you can count the Emperor as an over-arching villain, but I digress. And there are cameos by a young Jabba the Hutt, some Wookies in the Senate scene and General Zod himself, Terence Stamp as Supreme Chancellor Vallorum. The fight scenes are some the best, the four different fights at the climax being the standout. And its time for to once again praise John Williams. The man can do no wrong it seems as the music is just fantastic. My favorite set pieces being Duel of the Fates and the space fight. And The Imperial March is incorporated into Anakin's theme, forshadowing the fate the character will meet.

1/5 Mixed Resutls
  by A. Simon (USA)
This could have been one of the better Star Wars movies. It certainly had excellent special effects and a superb duel between two Jedi and the Sith. However, it was marred by two characters. Jar Jar Binks turned out to be one of the most annoying characters ever conceived, whose every utterance was like hearing fingernails raked across a blackboard (one prominent critic wrote in anticipation of the next Star Wars movie, "Jar Jar Binks must die!" Unfortunately, he did not). The other was the child Anakin. I think, however, that this was primarily due to the dialogue given him; there were many instances where he just should have been silent and Lucas had him talking his head off with inane comments, but in truth his inflection left a lot to be desired during the exciting parts).

1/5 THE worst.
  by Matthew David Ritchey (Hollywood, CA USA)
Lucas has defended this film (and subsequent movies) by saying "It's for kids." This is not only the weakest cop-out I've ever heard, but makes it plainly obvious Lucas has no idea who his audience is. The man went from being a Francis Copolla to a Michael Bay. It's sad and depressing.

4/5 Well done
  by Kenneth S. Curley (Covington, Georgia United States)
I am a first generation Star Wars fan. I was 9 years old when A New Hope came out, and like everyone else I was blown away. It was a thrill ride that kept on going through six years and three wonderful films.

So like most I was excited to hear that, finally, Lucas was going back and bringing us more Star Wars. It was too good to be true! Here I am at 30 years old and Episode 1 is coming out!

I think that with most fans here in lies the problem...

Now we are older. None of the original fans are kids anymore. And I firmly believe this is why all the negative crap about Episode 1.

No, it's not the same. It CAN'T be. We're not children...we have had twenty years of sophisticated sci-fi movies under our belts. What dazzeled us as kids simply won't work anymore.

Don't believe me? Ask any kid who saw Episode 1 when they were 8 to maybe 13 years old. The majority LOVED it. Why? The same reasons we loved the original back in 1977. The didn't have the baggage of 'Lucas changed our favorite film series'. All we had as kids were things like the Star Trek and Lost In Space TV series and films like 2001 and Planet Of The Apes. Star Wars WAS new and different...and very special. As adults, it just isn't anymore, considering how much SPFX have progressed (and, of course we do have the original trilogy to thank for most of those leaps and bounds).

Next time you see Episode 1...try to watch it with a kid. Maybe you might just see it reflected back at you the way our parents saw it in our eyes back in 1977.