I have seen the movies in the Star Wars Trilogy many times and really enjoy them. I was excited when I first heard that George Lucas was going to make a prequel trilogy. I went to see Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and did enjoy it though I felt there were some problems with the movie.

I will mention some things about the overall story told by the Star Wars movies, including the original trilogy, that would be spoilers for people who haven’t seen those movies yet.

There were disputes over trade routes in the Republic and the Trade Federation decided to blockade the planet of Naboo. Two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan Obi-Won Kenobi were sent to try to end the blockade. A powerful Sith lord, Lord Sidious, was actually behind the blockade. He decided that an invasion of Naboo would force Queen Amidala to sign a treaty with the Trade Federation. He was planning to manipulate things in the Senate so the blockade and invasion wouldn’t be stopped. Qui-Gon and Obi-Won discovered the invasion plans and found a way to get to Naboo to try to warn them. They encountered a Gungian, Jar Jar Binks, who joined them for the trip. Queen Amidala was hoping that Senator Palpatine would be able to get something done in the Senate to end the blockade. She decided to leave with Qui-Gon and Obi-Won so she could speak to the Senate herself. Lord Sidious wasn’t happy to learn that Queen Amidala escaped and he sent his apprentice, Darth Maul, to search for her.

They were forced to land on the planet of Tatoonie because the ship was damaged getting past the blockade. Qui-Gon hoped to find parts to repair the ship. Queen Amidala sent one of her handmaids, Padme, along. They met Anakin, a nine-year-old slave and his mother Shimi. Anakin wanted to help Qui-Gon get the ship repaired and came with an idea involving a pod race. Qui-Gon sensed something in Anakin and believed he should be trained as a Jedi even though he was older than most children are when they start their training. Qui-Gon was able to free Anakin, but they had to leave Shimi behind. Things didn’t go exactly as Queen Amidala had hoped with the Senate and she was determined to return to Naboo and save her people.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace goes back to the beginning of the story of the Skywalker family that was first shown in the Star Wars Trilogy. Those movies showed the second half of the story. The prequel trilogy shows Anakin’s journey to becoming a Jedi and then how he ultimately changed. Fans of the original trilogy waited almost twenty years for this movie. The hype was huge by the time the movie was released and fans of the series had very high expectations and many people were really let down when the saw the movie. I do think it would have been impossible for Lucas to make all the fans happy and some would have been very upset with the movie no matter what was done. I think it is possible for fans of the original trilogy to also enjoy this movie, but if expectations are too high, then there will more than likely be disappointment with the movie.

The movie was full of special effects, which I did expect. The original movies had groundbreaking effects for the time in them and they were updated a bit for the 1997 release of the movies. The different fights, including a very impressing lightsaber duel near the end of the movie with Qui-Gon and Obi-Won against Darth Maul, were amazing. There was a large battle that took place on the planet of Naboo and also in space around the blockade. That part did remind me a bit of things that happened in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Some characters, including what turned out to be the very controversial character of Jar Jar Binks, were created with CGI. The CGI characters blended in all right, but I think Gollum was a better CGI character in The Lord of the Rings movies. The pod race scene was very well done, but it wasn’t the most interesting part of the movie for me. Some new planets were featured in the movie. The scenery on Naboo was beautiful. It did seem at times that the plot and characters took a backseat to the special effects. This movie was set 32 years before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but some things in the movie do look more modern than things in the other movies.

The movies in the prequel trilogy have a lot of ground to cover in moving the story forward to explain how the galaxy ended up the way it was in the original trilogy. A lot of time was spent introducing characters and setting up events that would happen later in the story. The characters, including some from the original trilogy, were introduced. I had wondered about how Anakin came to be a Jedi, and this movie does show the beginning of his journey to be a Jedi. It also showed him meeting the woman he would later fall in love in with. A scientific explanation for the force was given which didn’t seem to work that well. There were a lot of political things going on in this movie which wasn’t the most interesting to watch. The Senate was brought up many times, and some scenes dealt directly with it. Those parts of the movie were rather boring for me. The movie did jump around between different plots that didn’t seem to be connected early in the movie. Later in the movie, it was clear how things were connected, so the jumping around didn’t seem as jarring. There was action and some violence throughout the movie, which is normal for a Star Wars movie. I didn’t think the movie was that violent.

There were several characters introduced in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Some of the characters were completely new for the series and others had been featured in the original trilogy. Obi-Won, who was shown as a wise older Jedi in those movies, was shown as a young Jedi still being taught by a master, Qui-Gon in this one. It was interesting to see Obi-Won as a padawan, but he didn’t have as big a part in the movie as I had hoped originally. It did show how Obi-Won came to train Anakin despite the concerns that the Jedi council and even Obi-Won had. I liked Ewan McGregor in the part.

Qui-Gon Jinn was one of the many new characters. He was a master Jedi that was teaching Obi-Won. Qui-Gon did bend some rules at times and was a bit of a rebel. He was willing to defy the council and Yoda to train Anakin. Qui-Gon was a compassionate man. Liam Neeson did well with the part. Mace Windu was a member of the Jedi council that was introduced. He and the other members of the council really didn’t have much to do in this movie. Samuel L. Jackson did fine as Windu. It was interesting to see all the Jedi even in smaller parts. Yoda only had a few short scenes, which did disappoint me a bit since I do really like him. Frank Oz again provided the voice for the character and controlled the puppet.

R2-D2 and C-3PO, the two droids that were in all of the movies in the original trilogy, were also in this movie. R2-D2 did have more to do. He was first shown as one of the droids on the spacecraft carrying Queen Amidala from Naboo and he was able to make important repairs while they were under attack. He later went with Qui-Gon to search for parts of the ship. R2-D2 first met C-3PO at the home of Anakin and his mother. Anakin built C-3PO to help his mother, though the robot wasn’t completly finished. Anakin left C-3PO with his mother when he left. Shimi loved her son and wanted what was best for him. Pernilla August was fine in her scenes. Queen Amidala was a young ruler, but she had the best interest of the people of Naboo in mind. She was willing to fight for what she thought was best. Natalie Portman did seem a bit stiff in some of the scenes, but that was when the Queen was in more formal attire, so I think it was on purpose. She did well with the fighting she had to do. Kiera Knightly, who was in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and King Arthur, had a small part as one of the Queen’s handmaidens.

Ian McDiarmid was fine as Senator Palpatine. He also had a role in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Terence Stamp appeared briefly as Supreme Chancellor Valorum of the Senate. Ahmed Best provided the voice for Jar Jar, the character from the movie that is probably the most hated. The character was created with CGI and the voice Best provided was hard to understand at times because of the accent. Many people didn’t like Jar Jar. He didn’t bother me when I first saw the movie, but I do find him a bit annoying now when I watch the movie again. Darth Maul made a very good evil character and looked creepy. He only said a few lines in the entire movie. He had a cool double lightsaber.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT
I will be mentioning some things about one character that will be spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen the original trilogy or who has managed to avoid hearing anything about those movies.

How Anakin was found by the Jedi and able to start his training was the main focus of the movie. Why eventually turned to the dark side of the force and became Darth Vader will be covered in the other two movies of the prequel trilogy. Anakin had a rough life as a slave on Tatoonie with his mother Shimi. He grew up without a father. Shimi told Qui-Gon that he didn’t have a father and she had him and raised him herself. I’m not sure if she meant there was some sort of immaculate conception or if she only had one encounter with a man that caused her to get pregnant and he wasn’t involved in Anakin’s life. I do wish there had been a better explanation for that. Anakin was an only child, which did make me wonder about Luke’s Uncle Owen. Anakin had very fast reflexes because of how strong the force was with him. He loved his mother and wanted to help her, which is why he built a protocol droid. He also wanted a different life as a Jedi. I really didn’t like Anakin and he annoyed me in just about every scene he had. Jake Lloyd didn’t do too badly with the acting, but I still found him annoying and unlikeable. I think the main problem I had with the character is I knew before seeing this movie that Anakin would eventually become Darth Vader. Once that happened, he would be responsible for the death all but a few of the Jedi, eventually including Obi-Won. For me, it was just very hard to forget that and see Anakin as a likable character.

END OF POSSIBLE SPOILER

CAST

Pernilla August - Shimi Skywalker
Kenny Baker - R2-D2
Ahmed Best - Jar Jar Binks
Anthony Daniels - C-3PO
Samuel L. Jackson - Mace Windu
Jake Lloyd - Anakin Skywalker
Ian McDiarmid - Senator Palpatine
Ewan McGregor - Obi-Won Kenobi
Liam Neeson - Qui-Gon Jinn
Frank Oz - Yoda
Ray Park - Darth Maul
Natalie Portman - Queen Amidala
Terence Stamp - Supreme Chancellor Valorum

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was written and directed by George Lucas. The movie was released in 1999 and is rated PG. It was 133 minutes long. The movie really isn’t for younger children, but it is probably fine for older children. The movie is now available on DVD and VHS. John Williams created the score for this movie, as he did for the original movies. Some of the music sounded a lot like music from those movies.

DVD EXTRAS

The DVD for the movie has two discs. The picture and audio quality on the DVD are wonderful. The first disc contains the movie and a commentary with Lucas and some of the crew. The rest of the extras are on the second disc. There are deleted scenes and new sequences that were created just for the DVD. A documentary that is an hour long shows the production process for the movie. There are featurettes that explore different areas of the movie. The music video for the song Duel of Fates is included. There is also a featurette on the making of a Star Wars video game.

I didn’t like some things about Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, but I thought it was entertaining. It was interesting to see younger versions of some characters and how different the galaxy was before the rise of the Emperor and Darth Vader to power. People that like the Star Wars movies should see this one at least once.

Related Reviews
Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters ~ Star Wars Trilogy ~ Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones ~ Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith ~ S.W.A.T. ~ Amos & Andrew ~ Twisted ~ No Good Deed ~ The Incredibles ~ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ~ King Arthur ~ Sleepy Hollow ~ Moulin Rouge ~ Moulin Rouge Soundtrack ~ Robots ~ X-Men ~ Cold Mountain ~ The Haunted Mansion ~ Elektra ~


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8