Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Phantom may not be the best entry in the series, but it's the most technically accomplished, and it makes you as hungry for the next film as you've been for this one.

New York Post John Podhoretz

Forget the hype, and the backlash. The Phantom Menace is captivating.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A highly entertaining and visually breathtaking movie, capable at times of rocking and delighting you.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Not a masterpiece, but it's an example of how imagination, craftsmanship, and technological bravura can fashion superior entertainment out of something that is far from flawless.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

An astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Avoid the hype, just go enjoy the movie

Film.com Ted Fry

A breathless, exciting family movie with a couple of truly memorable sequences, and just enough in the way of story and character to keep the franchise going for another 20 years.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

It's up to snuff. It sustains the gee-whiz spirit of the series.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

Let the killjoys squawk. Lucas has proved he has the Naboos to pull it off again. And again. And again.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The computer-driven effects are impressive, but the adventure is hampered by a flat screenplay, dull acting, and just a hint as to why the dark side of the Force will eventually transform cute little Anakin into the evil Darth Vader.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Despite a shaky start and the presence of questionable elements throughout, by the time it arrives at its finale -- which copies Return Of The Jedi's triple-climax structure -- The Phantom Menace has won its place alongside the original Star Wars trilogy.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Fails to recapture the elemental magic of Star Wars, and that, ironically, is because it represents the coarse culmination of the original film's adrenaline aesthetic.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

In the end, Phantom needed more human and less digital scale. The magic of "Star Wars" lay in Lucas' ability to play the human comedy in a fantastic future. With Phantom, he has brought the series to the brink of total artificiality, the future as a video game.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

It does the job just fine. That job, as director George Lucas freely admits, is quite simply to thrill the beating hearts and the inquiring minds of 12-year-old boys.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Good enough, but only just. It's got the hardware, but neither the characters, the imagination, nor the resonance one had hoped for.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's a kiddie movie rejiggered for childish grown-ups, of whom there are enough to make it a hit. How such childishness has become a virtual secular religion is hard to imagine.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Not at all bad for a toy commercial.

LA Weekly Greg Burk

I warn you, I'm gonna continue whining about the movie. Just keep in mind that I liked it.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Phantom is easily consumable eye candy, but it contains no nutrients for the heart or mind.

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

What I mean is that to watch The Phantom Menace as a lifelong "Star Wars" fan is to engage in constant, fragile negotiations between a cherished familiarity and the shock of the new.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

In special effects, Lucas has moved a galaxy beyond. In energy, not yet.

Film.com Sean Means

It earns an "Incomplete'' -- because we won't know the results until we see Lucas' next chapter.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

"Star Wars" fans deserve better.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The entire film is curiously soulless, with major characters making their entrances and exits (some of which are unexpectedly final) as if they were breezing in from some other screening next door.

Film.com John Hartl

Story. Character. They used to mean something to George Lucas.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

The Empire strikes out.

Newsweek David Ansen

All the state-of-the-art technology in the world is no help to an actor saddled with Lucas's tinny dialogue.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It is likely to disappoint more people than creator George Lucas would have liked.

TNT RoughCut Andy Jones

Not only is it just a movie, it's just a ho-hum movie.

Film.com Tom Keogh

It's a complete drag.

Film.com Robert Horton

Computer technology may be the actual phantom menace, after all.

Slate David Edelstein

George Lucas does it his way in the pallid Phantom Menace. Even cultists will wish he'd hired a director and some writers.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

This ain't no movie. It's a very long, very tedious infomercial for Phantom Menace action figures, on sale now at a Target or Toys "R" Us near you.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The Phantom Menace is simply a billboard for itself. Anyone who sees it will be experiencing it for the second time. The hype was not about the movie, the hype was the movie.