Star Wars 1 - The Phantom Menace

Two Jedi knights and an outcast must help a queen save her world, and along the way discover a boy who has the potential to be a powerful Jedi himself.

AMG: In 1977, George Lucas released Star Wars, the ultimate sci-fi popcorn flick turned pop-culture myth machine. It quickly became the biggest money-making film of all time and changed the shape of the film industry. After two successful sequels (1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi) that extended the story of the first film, Lucas took some time off to produce movies for others with mixed success. In 1999, Lucas returned to the Star Wars saga with a new approach — instead of picking up where Return of the Jedi left off, Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace would be the first of a trilogy of stories to trace what happened in the intergalactic saga before the first film began. Here, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is a young apprentice Jedi knight under the tutelage of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson); Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who will later father Luke Skywalker and become known as Darth Vader, is just a nine-year-old boy. When the Trade Federation cuts off all routes to the planet Naboo, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are assigned to settle the matter, but when they arrive on Naboo they are brought to Amidala, the Naboo Queen (Natalie Portman), by a friendly but opportunistic Gungan named Jar Jar. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan plan to escort Amidala to a meeting of Republic leaders in Coruscant, but trouble with their spacecraft strands them on the planet Tatooine, where Qui-Gon meets Anakin, the slave of a scrap dealer. Qui-Gon is soon convinced that the boy could be the leader the Jedis have been searching for, and he begins bargaining for his freedom and teaching the boy the lessons of The Force. The supporting cast includes Pernilla August as Anakin's mother, Terence Stamp as Chancellor Valorum, and Samuel L. Jackson as Jedi master Mace Windu; Jackson told a reporter before The Phantom Menace's release that the best part about doing the film was that he got to say "May The Force be with you" on screen. — Mark Deming

Review: To say that the first prequel to George Lucas' legendary Star Wars trilogy was "highly anticipated" would be an understatement. Twenty years after the original Star Wars hit the screen in 1977 and helped redefine the contemporary blockbuster, Lucas answered fan prayers by not only re-releasing the original trio, but also beginning production on the epic's first three episodes, depicting young Anakin Skywalker's rise to Jedi greatness and fabled descent to the Dark Side. Even the first trailer for the closely-guarded Star Wars: Episode 1-The Phantom Menace (1999) touched off a fan frenzy, as the faithful bought tickets to catch a glimpse of the impending Industrial Light and Magic spectacle, complete with signature gallery of oddball creatures, and then left the theaters. When The Phantom Menace opened in May 1999, however, response was mixed. While the computer-generated alternate universe was top-notch and Lucas' knack for whiz-bang special effects action reached an apex in the Ben-Hur-esque pod race, critics (professional and otherwise) objected to the wooden human characters, overly kiddie-friendly atmosphere, and goofy alien sidekick Jar Jar Binks. The fact that its impressive $61 million opening failed to break weekend records also caused some consternation. Still, by January 2000, The Phantom Menace had grossed over $400 million in the U.S., proving that the box office Force was still with Lucas (though The Matrix would sweep the special effects Oscars). — Lucia Bozzola