Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace

Does it really matter if I think that the special effects are awesome, but the conflict--a trade route dispute--is not nearly as compelling; that the Force does not seem to be with glum-looking Liam Neeson; that Jake Lloyd as Annakin Skywalker, the boy who would be Darth Vader, is not up to the mythic role; that computer-generated Jar Jar Binks quickly wears out his welcome; that George Lucas's script is often panderingly juvenile; that the celebrated pod-race sequence plays more like a commercial for the video game and is not nearly as thrilling as the Ben-Hur chariot race that inspired it; that Darth Maul is an underutilized villain; that the sense of wonder of the original Star Wars has been replaced by a sense of marketing? Does it matter? No. The Phantom Menace, last year's most eagerly-anticipated movie, is coming to home video at a sell-through price, and the faithful will line up in droves, albeit, one would hope, not weeks in advance as they did for the film. An obvious purchase. (K. Lee Benson)