Movie Review: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Yes, I am finally reviewing Star Wars. I plan to do all six films. However, to put a twist on things, I'm going to review the movies in chronological order, rather than the order in which the films were released. The Phantom Menace is chronologically the first film in the story of Star Wars. It came out in 1999, which according to Wikipedia was 16 years after the OT films were made. I couldn't believe that when I read it, the technological advancements in this film are drastically different in this movie. So if the original trilogy was a really good story, what's this really good story? Well, it actually isn't a bad story, but it is pretty well known that tons of people dislike the prequels for a bunch of reasons. Personally, I never minded the prequels. They had to be a little different because they were supposed to take place within a different time period. This movie tells the story of two jedi knights. The master Qui Gon Ginn, and his apprentice Obi Wan Kenobi. Does the second name ring a distant gong? Anyway, it revolves around not really Obi Wan's training, but the search for this boy named Anakin Skywalker who lives on the desert planet Tatooine with his mother. His mother is single...and yet she still gave birth to Anakan. Not saying anything, but there wasn't any explanation. So the two jedi knights travel with this girl named Padme who works for the Queen Amedala. I may be spelling that wrong. Anyway, they also travel with this dude named Jar Jar Banks. He's the species called a Gungan and most people who watched the movie found him really annoying. I never felt that way about Jar Jar Banks, I mean yeah he's strange, but he's really funny. If there were to be one part of his role that could be taken out, it would be the scene where he farts and those two aliens things say ew. That was probably the weakest part in this entire movie. So the get Anakin and take him back to this place called the jedi council where all the jedi knights prosper together. There we meet Mace Windu (Samuel L Jackson) and Yoda. Does the second name sound familiar? On the dark side, we have Darth Maul and Darth Sidious/Emperor. Does the second name sound familiar? Darth Maul is this devil-looking guy who has red and black tattoos on his face and body. He is one of the best things in this entire movie. Oh yeah, C3PO and R2D2 are in this too. Anakin builds C3PO, but never acknowledges him in the original movies. Overall, Phantom Menace is a pretty good start to a new trilogy of prequel Star Wars films. Three stars.