As a film intended to introduce the Star Wars world, the design and special effects that went into this are beautiful and add scope and detail to the original trilogy. The score is also a wonderful addition to the already iconic music. As an introduction to a new set of characters, the story of the discovery of Anakin Skywalker is poorly paced and lacks urgency, despite characters consistently reminding the audience that time is short. Too many cameos and bit parts for extraneous characters and dialogue telling us what is already being shown slow the film down considerably. Better editing would have resulted in a better film. Liam Neeson however carries the film with a great performance as Qui Gon Jinn and the villains are equally compelling, culminating in a stunning duel between the Jedi and Sith which is still one of the high points of the whole series.

I really don't think this film is as bad as everyone makes out. I get that it was disappointing but I wouldn't say it's significantly worse than Attack of the Clones. At least this Anakin can act. It does seem more aimed at younger audiences but what's wrong with that? I feel like it appealed to the kid in all of us and let us have a little fun in the Star Wars universe.

This movie has a lot of good and bad. I saw this when I was a kid and I had the vhs so I watched this countless times.

Good: Qui-Gon Jinn, I would of loved to see Liam Neeson play him again and try and become a grey jedi. The last lightsaber battle, still one of the best in the series. Darth Maul, he may not have much of a back story but he still is a bad ass villain. Pod racing, its fun and I enjoyed the scene.

Bad: Obviously Jar Jar and all the gungans, man I forgot how annoying he is. Bad CGI, it is a little forgivable for the time but it doesn't hold up well. Pacing, it can be a boring at times and the editing can take away from the better scenes.

Overall a decent intro to the series, I wouldn't show this first to someone who has never seen Star Wars, start with A New Hope.

They probably shouldn't have made the kid that would become Darth Vader; so friggen cheerful. Which makes it hard to believe that he has such a chip on his shoulders in part 2 and 3. Plus Padme is a cradle robber for even eventually getting with him.

I received the VHS of this one when I was about 9 or 10, I watched at the time but I didn't recalled much of anything so it's almost like I never watched it before. I was totally not into the Star Wars universe (actually I wasn't until I finally start watching the films a couple of days ago) so at the time for me it was just another action film that entertained me for a while. Now after all this years I see that it doesn't surprise me, once again it entertained me for sure but it lacks the charm and the brilliance of Episode IV, V and VI.

It's interesting and strange that sometimes I felt like I wasn't watching a Star Wars film but one inspired in the Star Wars saga. There's a lot of holes in the story, things that I would like to have seen explained. The new characters that are introduced don't glow at all, it's almost like they came from nowhere and from the beginning until the end I didn't feel any simpathy for them. The special effects are sometimes very poor and I would like to have seen real creatures like in the other films, not computer generated animals that looked odd.

Unfortunately Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is not very engaging and it turns out to be just a piece of entertainment.

We Should Not Have Made This Bargain

I think film intended to introduce Star Wars to a new audience and for that reason it tries to explain everything and maybe make everythin reasonable. It a science fiction movie, of course not everything has to make sense. Very political and the battles are not very passionate. I gave it a 5 six years ago and now that I watched it again i think I'll keep the rate.

"There's always a bigger fish."

May the 4th be with you folks.

Remember, even through this movie is extremely boring and disappointing, at least it's not your son.

After all this time, Episode I still holds up in production value and especially the score from John Williams. Just parts of the dialogue remain cringe-worthy. Duel of the Fates rocks as always.

Watching this often on a VHS tape as a kid gave me great joy, mainly because I never took any of its flaws seriously. Now as an adult, I look at Phantom with more critical eyes. I can now see why some people find this a chore to watch. If possible, use your Jedi mind powers to erase Jar Jar from each scene. I tried and saw a potentially greater and more enjoyable film in front of me. The Gungans too created the wrong tones and I wonder if they could have been replaced by another army of sorts. They rely on CGI that is okay for its time but these effects don’t hold up as well today.
Ewan Mcregor and Liam Neeson are the strongest characters of this story and reward us with one of the best lightsaber duels in the series.

No matter how many times I watch this I never fail to fall asleep at some point since the only thing to enjoy about this is Queen Amidala's costumes.

I'm really sorry but this time like 15y after first time I seen it I just barely got though the end...I'm huge SW fan and because I'm 44 now I was lucky enough to watch original trilogy in movie theater (except New Hope). Idk but Phantom Menace is so poorly made on each levels.. I just noticed how bad Portman performed in Padme role..... seriously she seems like she is reading scripts directly from teleprompter! Zero emotion! Zero acting. The same young Anakin but he was a child back then with no acting experience. This is not his fault but crew fault and Lucas fault because they hiring him. CGI... no comment... too much....way too much and also I think it was too early for that kind of CGI level.On the other hand LOTR showed up bit later with much better CGI. And story.... characters.... Jar Jar which was supposed to be another ewok but was disaster.... I'm watching now Attack Of The Clones and it's bad as well as first episode..

I like it more than the average Joe, but yeah it isn't that great. The pod racing scene was cool though

Rewatching it again was pretty rough lol

Original trilogy, episodes IV–VI

A New Hope (1977) https://trakt.tv/movies/star-wars-1977
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-empire-strikes-back-1980
Return of the Jedi (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/return-of-the-jedi-1983

Prequel trilogy, episodes I–III

The Phantom Menace (1999) https://trakt.tv/movies/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace-1999
Attack of the Clones (2002) https://trakt.tv/movies/star-wars-episode-ii-attack-of-the-clones-2002
Revenge of the Sith (2005) https://trakt.tv/movies/star-wars-episode-iii-revenge-of-the-sith-2005

Sequel trilogy, episodes VII–IX

The Force Awakens (2015) https://trakt.tv/movies/star-wars-the-force-awakens-2015
The Last Jedi (2017) https://trakt.tv/movies/star-wars-the-last-jedi-2017
The Rise of Skywalker (2019) https://trakt.tv/movies/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-2019

Anthology films

Rogue One (2016) https://trakt.tv/movies/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-2016
Solo (2018) https://trakt.tv/movies/solo-a-star-wars-story-2018
Rogue Squadron (2023) https://trakt.tv/movies/rogue-squadron-2023

A film completely ruined by 1 character

I can't believe that I'm not recommending a Star Wars movie. The acting is really stiff. Natalie Portman and Liam Neeson seem to mail it in. It's only saved by Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Darth Maul character, and some very imaginative worlds and beasts.

The pod race (incredible in surround sound) and the three-way light saber battle between Kenobi Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul are the highpoints. Low points are many, including silly drone dialogue and Jar Jar Binks. Why would drones be programmed to say things like "roger-roger" and yell out emotional responses to situations where they were in peril? And I really don't believe that a tearing down of Jar Jar Binks is even necessary except to say that the character is one of the dumbest attempts at comic relief that I've ever seen. Jar Jar Binks could have easily been written out of the story and seems to be a weak attempt at yet another unnecessarily cute Star Wars character.