|
New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
20th Century Fox Film Corporation
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG for sci-fi action/violence
Starring
Liam Neeson,
Ewan McGregor,
Natalie Portman,
Jake Lloyd,
Pernilla August,
Frank Oz,
and
Terence Stamp
Set decades before the original "Star Wars" series, in the era of the Republic, The Phantom Menace is a prequel which introduces many of the major characters.
| GENRE(S): |
Sci-fi
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
George Lucas
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
George Lucas
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 16, 2001
Video: April 4, 2000
Theatrical: May 19, 1999
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
133 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
91
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.
88
New York Post
John Podhoretz
Forget the hype, and the backlash. The Phantom Menace is captivating.
88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
A highly entertaining and visually breathtaking movie, capable at times of rocking and delighting you.
88
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.
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
An astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking.
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Avoid the hype, just go enjoy the movie
80
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.
80
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
It's up to snuff. It sustains the gee-whiz spirit of the series.
75
USA Today
Susan Wloszczyna
Let the killjoys squawk. Lucas has proved he has the Naboos to pull it off again. And again. And again.
75
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.
70
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.
67
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.
63
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.
63
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.
63
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.
60
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.
60
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Not at all bad for a toy commercial.
60
LA Weekly
Greg Burk
I warn you, I'm gonna continue whining about the movie. Just keep in mind that I liked it.
60
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Phantom is easily consumable eye candy, but it contains no nutrients for the heart or mind.
60
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.
50
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.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
In special effects, Lucas has moved a galaxy beyond. In energy, not yet.
50
Film.com
Sean Means
It earns an "Incomplete'' -- because we won't know the results until we see Lucas' next chapter.
50
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
"Star Wars" fans deserve better.
50
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.
40
Film.com
John Hartl
Story. Character. They used to mean something to George Lucas.
40
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
The Empire strikes out.
40
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.
40
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
It is likely to disappoint more people than creator George Lucas would have liked.
40
TNT RoughCut
Andy Jones
Not only is it just a movie, it's just a ho-hum movie.
30
Film.com
Tom Keogh
It's a complete drag.
30
Film.com
Robert Horton
Computer technology may be the actual phantom menace, after all.
20
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.
20
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.
20
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.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.9 (out of 10) based on 79 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Read more user comments...
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|
