

TOY STORY

STAR WARS I: THE PHANTOM MENACE
Written and Directed by George Lucas
With Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor
UA North, De Vargas      PG       131 min

     Say this for George Lucas: he still knows how to dazzle us
visually.  The hardware, the architecture -- there's plenty of eye
candy in this retro opening episode of the Star Wars franchise.
     There's very little for the heart, and nothing for the brain.
Lucas's imagination fails him when it comes to spaceoid critters; he
seems to have cut a devil's pact with Toys R Us.  If the Gungan Jar
Jar Binks doesn't get on your nerves pretty quickly, you're probably
under twelve.  And for all the 20 years of computerized advance in
special effects, there's no moment to tingle the skin like that first
"Star Wars" jump into hyperspace.  The pod race here is exciting, but
it feels like a video game.
     The ground is dutifully laid for the next episode with the anti-
Christ Anikin Skywalker (9-year-old Jake Lloyd), born of a virgin, and
destined to father the twins Luke and Leia and then turn to the dark
side as Darth Vader.  Yoda and the Jedi council have misgivings about
him, and right they are.  But he's successfully championed by Jedi
Knight Qui-Gon Jinn, effectively played by Liam Neeson.  Ewan McGregor
as his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobe is good at anticipating the great
Alec Guinness, but he gets a bit too emotional for a Jedi.  Natalie
Portman is Queen Amidala, and she's convincingly regal but not much
fun.  Nobody's much fun -- there's no cocky Han Solo, no feisty
Princess Leia, no doofus macho innocent Luke Skywalker.
     In "Star Wars", Lucas created a futuristic "American Graffiti"
with jalopy jockeys and teen-age types he understood.  Now that he's
become Joseph Campbell, he's sunk beneath the weight of his own
significance, and been seduced by the trivial side of the Force.