# Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

### reviewed by
Jon Popick

PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com

It's hard to effectively rate a movie like The Phantom Menace. If you compare it to its previous three films, it comes up a bit short. If the first three films were never made, viewers would likely be as floored as they were when the first Star Wars film was released over twenty years ago. Was I disappointed? A little. Am I going to see it again? Yes. Two more times? Probably.

Taking place about forty years before the beginning trilogy (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), Menace shares only a few characters familiar with audiences. Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) is back and appears to have less ear hair. A much younger Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor, Trainspotting) plays a limited role, but promises to be a much bigger force in the next two installments, due in 2002 and 2005. But, most importantly, a very young innocent named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd, Jingle All the Way) – soon to become the enigmatic Darth Vader, as well as the father of Luke and Leia – is discovered by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson, Les Miserables).

Menace seems like more of a set piece for Episodes Two and Three of George Lucas' current trilogy. This is the first film Lucas has directed since the first Star Wars film – and it shows. Acting and story take a back seat to the special effects, which are nothing short of goddamned unbelievable. The script offers too many flat one-liners and jokes geared to pre-school-aged kids. And don't get me started on the Muppets and computer-generated characters. The worst is Jar Jar Binks, a horrible Roger Rabbit knock-off that is immediately hated by anyone without either a diaper or a pocket-protector. (2:11 – PG for violence and the possible implication that Qui-Gon banged Anakin's slave mother, Shmi)

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