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Burdened by exposition and populated with stock characters, The Phantom Menace gets the Star Wars prequels off to a bumpy -- albeit visually dazzling -- start.
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All Critics (225) | Top Critics (62) | Fresh (120) | Rotten (105)
The movie is fun, for the most part, and several scenes are as good or better than anything Lucas created in the original films. The human characters, however, are not nearly as interesting as those in the earlier episodes. Dec 14, 2015 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
The movie is fun, for the most part, and several scenes are as good or better than anything Lucas created in the original films. The human characters, however, are not nearly as interesting as those in the earlier episodes.
Joe Holleman
Do kids really want to follow a plot about intergalactic trade embargoes? Nov 16, 2015 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
Do kids really want to follow a plot about intergalactic trade embargoes?
Kate Muir
The visual effects in The Phantom Menace are so good that you find yourself not caring very much about Qui-Gon's prophetic murmurings. Nov 16, 2015 | Full Review…
The visual effects in The Phantom Menace are so good that you find yourself not caring very much about Qui-Gon's prophetic murmurings.
Andrew O'Hagan
What I can't comprehend is why the political details had to be so tedious and abstract. Will the kids of our nation and the world truly be titillated by trade wars and the spectacle of a do-nothing Senate? Nov 16, 2015 | Full Review…
What I can't comprehend is why the political details had to be so tedious and abstract. Will the kids of our nation and the world truly be titillated by trade wars and the spectacle of a do-nothing Senate?
Joe Morgenstern
Look, I wanted to love The Phantom Menace, too. I was an adolescent boy and would enjoy being one again for a couple of hours. But the movie has a way of deflating all but the most delusional of hopes. Nov 16, 2015 | Full Review…
Look, I wanted to love The Phantom Menace, too. I was an adolescent boy and would enjoy being one again for a couple of hours. But the movie has a way of deflating all but the most delusional of hopes.
David Edelstein
Mr. Lucas is not without a certain technocratic sagacity, but I don't think he's communicating even with the young as astutely as he once did. Nov 16, 2015 | Full Review…
Mr. Lucas is not without a certain technocratic sagacity, but I don't think he's communicating even with the young as astutely as he once did.
Andrew Sarris
Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace gets the saga off to a bit of a rough start. Dec 15, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace gets the saga off to a bit of a rough start.
Danielle Solzman
One of George Lucas' creative high points - an excellent look at the failings of a society on the brink. The original subversive Star Wars entry. Dec 2, 2019 | Full Review…
One of George Lucas' creative high points - an excellent look at the failings of a society on the brink. The original subversive Star Wars entry.
Evan Dossey
It lacks alarmingly a very high percentage of the MAGIC that its predecessors had. [Full Review in Spanish] Aug 30, 2019 | Full Review…
It lacks alarmingly a very high percentage of the MAGIC that its predecessors had. [Full Review in Spanish]
Sergio Benítez
Despite all the exposition it can also feel very confusing of who is doing what and why. Apr 18, 2019 | Rating: D | Full Review…
Despite all the exposition it can also feel very confusing of who is doing what and why.
Rachel Wagner
I really don't want to be one of those Episode I haters, it does have SOME merit, but man, it just grates on you how annoying it is for the majority of its runtime... Jan 26, 2019 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
I really don't want to be one of those Episode I haters, it does have SOME merit, but man, it just grates on you how annoying it is for the majority of its runtime...
David Hogan
It had almost impossibly high expectations tagged on to it and unfortunately did not scale the heights it was hoped/expected it would. This could've been so much more. Dec 17, 2018 | Rating: 6/10 | Full Review…
It had almost impossibly high expectations tagged on to it and unfortunately did not scale the heights it was hoped/expected it would. This could've been so much more.
Matt Hudson
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