Phantom Menace will be re-released in 3-D starting on February 10, 2012. Photo property of Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox.
13 years ago…moviegoers returned to the Star Wars universe for the first film in George Lucas’ Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. This first film was Star Wars: Episode One-The Phantom Menace. The Phantom Menace told the origin story of Anakin Skywalker (played by Jake Lloyd), who would grow-up to be the fearsome Darth Vader.
The film begins as a very young Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) confront the wily Trade Federation about their ship blockade and to stop their invasion of Naboo. Unfortunately for them, the mysterious malevolent Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid), the puppet master behind the Trade Federation, orders for them to be wiped out. The Jedi escape the death trap and retreat to Naboo to prevent the young Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) from being captured.
On their way, they meet the bumbling Jar Jar Binks (voiced by Ahmed Best), who takes them to the underwater world of the Gungans where Jinn successfully requests that the clumsy Jar Jar could be a guide to them. The Jedi arrive just in time to save the Queen and her entourage from the Trade Federation’s clutches and escaped the planet and eventually landed on the desert planet: Tatooine.
Meanwhile, Darth Sidious sent out his apprentice: the fearsome Darth Maul (Ray Park) to seek them out. Back on the desert planet, Qui-Gon Jinn, the disguised Queen and R2-D2 met the enslaved Skywalker and the Jedi Master discovers that the nine-year-old’s powerful connection to the force. The Jedi Master begins to a successful campaign to release the boy from slavery that ends with Anakin winning a pod race.
After a tearful goodbye with his mother, the quartet head back to the ship but get caught by Darth Maul. The battle shook the Jedi Master and he reported the incident back to the Jedi Council on Coruscant. In addition, he also demands to train the boy. Yoda and other leaders are shocked at both accounts and after testing Anakin; they deem him ineligible because fear and doubt surround him.
The film shifts closer to the film’s quartet of giant battles: the Queen and her people battle their way into Naboo’s palace to confront the Trade Federation leaders; the Gungans take on the Trade Federation’s colossal droid army; Anakin heads to space to challenge the antagonists’ spaceship armada and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon tackle Darth Maul in a heated final showdown.
As the dust settled from the numerous battles, the Jedi cremated Qui-Gon Jinn’s body after Darth Maul slayed him during the fight. Obi-Wan would now be Anakin’s master even though Yoda foreshadows danger during Anakin’s training.
The film has grossed over $924 million dollars and ranks number 19 on Box Office Mojo’s All Time Worldwide Box Office Gross list. Despite its’ rank on the list, many fans were divided on the first prequel film. The character Jar Jar Binks was blamed by many movie critics as part of the flaws of The Phantom Menace. In addition to the upset fans and critics, the character was lampooned on South Park and Fairy Oddparents. However, the film saw some support from Roger Ebert, who gave it three-and-a-half stars in his review, and other publications: EW and USA Today.
JEJ.com’s review and grade: This film was a great film to watch as a kid but as this author and others got older, Phantom Menace became a little cheesy to watch but it contained an incredible score by John Williams, terrific performances from Liam Neeson, Ian McDiarmid and Frank Oz (who puppeteers Yoda for the final time) and of course incredible visual effects. B-
