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Star Wars. Episode I: The Phantom Menace

1999

George Lucas

Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd ...

6.2

104,402

Sci-Fi. Adventure The first of three prequels to George Lucas’s celebrated STAR WARS films, EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE is set some 30 years before STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE in the era of the Republic. Naboo, a peaceful planet governed by the young, but wise Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman), is being threatened by the corrupt Trade Federation, puppets of an evil Sith lord and his terrifying apprentice, Darth Maul (Ray Park). The seemingly ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"'Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace,' to cite its full title, is an astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking (...) There is a sense of discovery in scene after scene (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Todd McCarthy Variety	"Phantom is easily consumable eye candy, but it contains no nutrients for the heart or mind (...) it lacks any emotional pull, as well as the sense of wonder"	NEU
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"Not bad for a toy commercial, and the SF settings, however familiar, are even more impressive than the gadgets and beasties"	NEU
United States	Jay Carr Boston Globe	"Good enough, but only just. It's got the hardware, but neither the characters, the imagination, nor the resonance one had hoped for"	NEU
United States	Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune	"A highly entertaining and visually breathtaking movie, capable at times of rocking and delighting you (...) One scene after another rolls past like a circus parade of living wonders"	POS
United States	Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter	"Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace seems designed more as a promotion for Lucasfilm's billion-dollar merchandising concerns than a meaningful chapter in the Star Wars canon"	NEG
United States	Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times	"While the new film is certainly serviceable, it's noticeably lacking in warmth and humor, and though its visual strengths are real and considerable, from a dramatic point of view it's ponderous and plodding"	NEU
United States	Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"Spectacular yet remote. (...) Fails to recapture the elemental magic of Star Wars"	NEU

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