Customer Reviews

Star Wars: Episodes I & II (Full Screen Edition)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

These two Star Wars movies are not major masterpieces like the original three but at the same time, they also are unfairly bashed by critics.

From my perspective though, these two movies are simply great movies to watch and are worthy prequels to the original three. Yes they're both flawed but still, I don't understand why so many seem to hate these Star Wars movies so much.

EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE- This first episode in the entire franchise begins with increasing rebel activity becoming an increasing threat to the Galactic Republic. The Republic is being lead by a mysterious figure named Queen Padme Amidala. Padme is under threat of being overthrown from power by a rebel force lead by Darth Sideous and his apprentice Darth Maul. A young boy named Anakin Skywalker comes into the picture who is a slave to a creature named Sebulba and has to win a pod race to be freed. Anakin is discovered to have HUGE potential to become a Jedi Knight but is considered a danger to the republic and the galaxy. Meanwhile, Qui-Gon Jinn and his sidekick, a young Obi Wan Kenobi go on a quest to train the young Anakin Skywalker to become a Jedi, against the objections of the Jedi order. Overall though, the movie suffers from occasional bumbling roles especially from the bizarre giraffe-like Jar Jar Binks who is despised by most although not by me personally and also of poor scripting in some areas. I thought that Jar Jar was funny in some areas but annoying at times. The big flaw though in my opinion was that THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH DARTH MAUL!!!! That was the main disappointment. Still though this movie was great. I think of this movie as a large bag of popcorn as opposed to an epic work. Lucas did a pretty good job with PM. This is a very underrated movie. This is the first of the episodes and is the skeleton frame of what's to come on the next two episodes.

EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES- The second episode of the Star Wars franchise takes place ten years after the demise of Darth Maul with Anakin Skywalker as a nearly adult Jedi who by now was inching closer to the evil side. The Republic is under increasing threat from rebel attacks that becomes obvious after a failed assassination attempt on Senator Amidala that kills her decoy Corde. A romance is kindled between Padme and Anakin but is endangered because of Padme's role as a Senator and also conflicts with Skywalker's dream of becoming a powerful Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, a secret army comprised of cloned beings is being built on a planet that has eluded detection of the Republics authorities. Several pivotal events happen that make "Attack Of The Clones". First, Anakin starts going at odds with his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi and Amidala is under new threats from forces hired by Count Dooku aka Darth Tyranus. Overall, I thought that Dooku was classic, bringing out much more personality than Darth Maul. Yoda also surprises us in a duel with Dooku as well. Overall, while "Clones" has it's flaws from bumbling acting in some occasions, it's an improvement over "Phantom Menace". This is the precursor to the possibly riveting events that are to take place on Episode III with Anakin becoming Darth Vader.

These two movies make a nice action movie combo and are both worth owning. While they may not be major masterpieces like the original three were, they are great on their own field. Hands down to George Lucas for bringing out the creativity in his mind and onto the big screen again.

I caught bits and piece of Episode I in Full Screen on television last week, and it was chop and cut job, a [relatively] good one, but still lots of things are lost: character's voices heard without them being on screen (or at least half seen) and noises of objects or characters that are no longer seen.

Plus the scope of the cities and the worlds that were created are reduced considerably. The battles and Pod Races, for which these movies get their most of their thrills from are horribly truncated with much of the surrounding action completley deleted.

On the other hand, why are widescreen faithfuls being so extreme? These films ARE INDEED available in Widescreen for those who choose to get the filmaker's prefered format. And you will be better off when full screen buyers end up with Black Bars on the side of their screens in the end when widescreen televisions become dominant, so what's the fuss on our part? We get the whole movie for our money, not half for the same price.

The "unhelpful button" clicking may commence, I assume...

It puzzles me why Fox only chose to offer a PAN-AND-SCAN box of the first two Star Wars prequels.

If you're a fan of these films, it's much better to buy the separate widescreen releases of each. You won't get the pretty slipcase, but at least you're getting the whole movie and not a butchered pan-and-scan version.

It is rumored that when Episode III comes out on DVD this November, Fox will release a box set of all three prequels in their proper Widescreen Anamorphic format. Hopefully that rumor is true. (Though, since I already own the WS versions of Episodes I and II, I'll forgo the box and pick up the regular release of III.)

I was one of the many people who didn't like the Phantom Menace, and considered it a major disappointment from the last three movies. I was not impressed by the acting and script, and found Jar Jar Binks to be annoying. I liked the visual effects and everything else in the movie to consider it an OK film, but could've been alot better.

I was very anxious to see Attack of the Clones when it came out at the movies, because of the good word of mouth on it. When I saw it at the movies, I loved it very much. It had almost everything I was looking for in a Star Wars movie, except for the good acting from the two leads, and better romantic dialogue. But I still loved it as much as the other films. You shouldn't buy both movies together, because you may not like one of them, or both, but what I would suggest is renting The Phantom Menace first, then Attack of the Clones to make a decision if you want to buy both movies.

Phantom Penice and Attack of the Boners lack the spirit and greatness that the original Star Wars had. George Lucas has gone completly overboard with the special FX. I think they say that 96% of the movie's have a SFX shot in them somewhere. And watching the behind the scenes as actors are doing nothing but jumping around infront of green screens is a complete and utter bore.

The original Star Wars movies had somthing special about them, but it wasnt just the SFX. I think George has lost it by thinking the FX will carry these movies. In the original it had a new excitment about what was happening? and what was a Jedi? and it was filled with action and adventure... then Umpire Strikes back continued that, with alot of newer great action seaqunces, but also adding that Vader is Lukes father, and in Return of the Jedi, Luke and Leia are brother and sister... and many more things added to the charactors and plot of the films.... which is where these 2 new ones fail. Going monsterous over board with computers and FX and not concintrating hard enough on plot ideas, and originality has brought these 2 to screw up the Star Wars saga. The FX can be ok in some parts of the films, but there is just too much of it, enough to make me sick. Film makers these days should be concintrating on making the best film they can, not worrying about how to do somthing on a computer, putting it on screen, and then at the end of the day just before knock off time, think about a plot to go around the FX for a minute, and go with whatever is off the top of your head?

George needs to rethink his statagy and worry about the FX of these things after making a great movie, not just slapping a few actors together and then seeing what great things the computer can do these days. It seems that Lucas knew he had a billion devoted fans who think apon him as a god, and knew that if he put 2 stick figures on the screen, blasted the intro, and showed an Ewok shave his underarms for over 2 hours, he'd make million sof it. What is sorely missed in these movies is the beleivable models used in the originals. This whole CGI thing has gone WAY overboard, and made things look too unrealistic.... to the person who said they wouldnt be suprised to see Shrek and Donkey waving in the background... good call... I agree with you 100%!

The CGI is too much in these films and rueins them

I am a big fan of the old star wars trilogy. Lucas could not handle the new trilogy, it is simply not star wars like.

If you are a huge SW fan, this is a must have!
The 4 DVDs are a piece of collection. The art on boxes and covers is well designed and the content of the DVDs is superb.
You have both movies on DVD and the resolution is excellent (you do not need a flat screen TV set to start appreciating it) plus you get 2 DVDs with behind the scenes, deleted parts, featurettes, extra information and many many other useful and nice to have data.
I am totally happy for buying it and the price is reasonable.

I had the last three episodes of this great series but I had to replace
the VHS versions of the first two parts so I picked this up. Not much
more to say, get this or the new complete six movie packs that are out
nowadays. By the way, I'm R2D2!

I remember reading all of the horrible reviews of The Phantom Menace and my disappointment upon first seeing the film. Admittedly, it's not the greatest Star Wars film and a lot of the criticisms are valid. However, I recently rewatched it with my wife and started to see some value in it. It is an adventure movie with some pretty cool scenes (the Darth Maul duel in particular). But more importantly, it isn't supposed to focus on character and plot development - that's for Episodes II and III. Rather, TPM is just an adventure story to introduce the world of Star Wars (think the Hobbit before the Lord of the Rings). It isn't a great movie, but it's also not so horrible as to cast it out of the Star Wars saga. Overall, a 3.75 star movie.

In terms of acting, plot, dialogue, and special effects, Attack of the Clones is light years beyond The Phantom Menace. Much of the movie focuses on the mystery of the clone army. It ends with a spectacular battle scene - still one of the best sci-fi battles out there.

I like a lot about Attack of the Clones, but at the end of the day it just seems like the plot still needed to be worked out. There is a whole mystery about who built the clone army, but this is never fully explained. Also, it's not really clear why the Separatists were building a Death Star. I'm a Star Wars geek and it took me a while to figure these plot twists out. It's certainly not going to appeal to casual fans. Also, while the main actors are fine, the extras are sometimes a bit corny - particularly the Jedi at the end of the movie and the other Separatist leaders. Good, but not quite up to par with Episodes IV and V.

I was one of the many people who didn't like the Phantom Menace, and considered it a major disappointment from the last three movies. I was not impressed by the acting and script, and found Jar Jar Binks to be annoying. I liked the visual effects and everything else in the movie to consider it an OK film, but could've been alot better.

I was very anxious to see Attack of the Clones when it came out at the movies, because of the good word of mouth on it. When I saw it at the movies, I loved it very much. It had almost everything I was looking for in a Star Wars movie, except for the good acting from the two leads, and better romantic dialogue. But I still loved it as much as the other films. You shouldn't buy both movies together, because you may not like one of them, or both, but what I would suggest is renting The Phantom Menace first, then Attack of the Clones to make a decision if you want to buy both movies.