Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D (U)

Alison Rowat's Review

Anoraks on, fan boys, and prepare to greet the turning of the Star Wars series into 3D, generating lots more profits for all concerned.

The 1999 prequel attempts to take the story back to where it all began, sometimes with alarming results. Jar Jar Binks anyone?

If passing your local cinema after a screening do watch out for grown men fighting each other with imaginary light sabres.

Paul Greenwood's Review

Simultaneously the most anticipated and the most anti-climactic film ever made, The Phantom Menace arrived in cinemas in the summer of 1999 on an unprecedented wave of hype, 16 years after the finale of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Now all six films are being rereleased in 3D, beginning with this much derided prequel in which George Lucas went back to tell the story of how a young boy would eventually become Darth Vader, with Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson as the Jedi knights assigned to mentor him.

Criticised for its cartoonish look, general juvenility, the despised Jar Jar Binks and some heinous dialogue, there’s plenty here that doesn’t work.

But here’s the thing: it’s still Star Wars, it’s still the most beloved mythology ever created for the cinema and, for all its faults, it’s still a frequently spectacular time at the movies.