Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition)

Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition) | Pernilla August, Kenny Baker | Setting the historical foundation to the "Star Wars" epic

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Star Wars - Episod...

	Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition) Pernilla August, Kenny Baker 20th Century Fox, 2005 average customer review:based on 2695 reviews view larger image
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My son loves it.

My five year old son is a huge Star Wars fan. We have watched this DVD many times and he never gets tired of it.

Setting the historical foundation to the "Star Wars" epic

I grew up on the original "Star Wars" Trilogy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It completely captured my imagination, and since that time I have been totally caught up with the Star Wars universe and the Jedi philosophy. Of course, I was anxious to see the prequils, which are very interesting in their own right.

This one, "The Phantom Menace" is definately the weakest of the three prequils. The momentum of the story sometimes gets bogged down with the politics surrounding the Battle of Naboo. It gets hard to follow and it actually took me several viewings to figure it out completely.

Jar Jar Binks was something of a annoyance, but I don't think he deserved all the bad publicity he got in the reviews. It even made sense that his bumbling and goof-ball character would later mess things up in Episode Two where (as a Congressman) he foolishly is tricked into making a motion to hand more power to the deceptive Chancellor Palpatine.

As for the ethnic stereotypes and relationships to other movies, I think it was quite obvious that the aliens in charge of the trade federation were thinly disguised representaions of Japanese leaders from the movie "Tora, Tora, Tora". The pod racing was most definately based on the chariot race from "Ben-Hur". As for Watto (said to be a Jewish or Arab merchant) and Jar Jar Binks (Said to be a "J.J. Evans" Afro-American stereotype); I didn't pick up on that until after I read the reviews.

The special effects, of course, were breathtaking, but the characters were far less captivating than the Original Trilogy ensemble. Little Anakin was not a likable kid, and there is nothing in his character that would indicate the inner turmoil that would someday transform this "Little Orphan Andy" into an "Adolf Hitler". Princess Padme also seemed to not have much of a personality. The actor who played Obiwan, however, did an excellent job in capturing Alec Guiness's conception of that role.

Of all, Palpatine emerges as the most interesting character. One is fascinated by his duplicidous nature and satanic majesty.

With all of it's flaws I still have to give "Phantom Menace" four stars, just for setting the historical foundation to the "Star Wars" epic.

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