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Star Wars. Episode I: The Phantom Menace

1999

George Lucas

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

6.2

105,472

Sci-Fi. Adventure

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 ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		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)"
		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"
		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"
		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"
		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"
		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"
		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"
		Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"Spectacular yet remote. (...) Fails to recapture the elemental magic of Star Wars"

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