

PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com

It’s hard to effectively rate a movie like The Phantom Menace.  If you
compare it to its previous three films, it comes up a bit short.  If the
first three films were never made, viewers would likely be as floored as
they were when the first Star Wars film was released over twenty years
ago.  Was I disappointed?  A little.  Am I going to see it again?  Yes.
Two more times?  Probably.

Taking place about forty years before the beginning trilogy (Star Wars,
The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), Menace shares only a
few characters familiar with audiences.  Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) is
back and appears to have less ear hair.  A much younger Obi-Wan Kenobi
(Ewan McGregor, Trainspotting) plays a limited role, but promises to be
a much bigger force in the next two installments, due in 2002 and 2005.
But, most importantly, a very young innocent named Anakin Skywalker
(Jake Lloyd, Jingle All the Way) – soon to become the enigmatic Darth
Vader, as well as the father of Luke and Leia – is discovered by Jedi
Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson, Les Miserables).

Menace seems like more of a set piece for Episodes Two and Three of
George Lucas’ current trilogy.  This is the first film Lucas has
directed since the first Star Wars film – and it shows.  Acting and
story take a back seat to the special effects, which are nothing short
of goddamned unbelievable.  The script offers too many flat one-liners
and jokes geared to pre-school-aged kids.  And don’t get me started on
the Muppets and computer-generated characters.  The worst is Jar Jar
Binks, a horrible Roger Rabbit knock-off that is immediately hated by
anyone without either a diaper or a pocket-protector.  (2:11 – PG for
violence and the possible implication that Qui-Gon banged Anakin’s slave
mother, Shmi)