Originally released on May 19, 1999, Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Upon its initial release, George Lucas’ film was met with mixed reviews and was judged harshly by both critics and fans. While the visual effects for the film were appreciated, viewers weren’t too kind toward the characters or how the story played out.
As a result, The Phantom Menace became the lowest-rated film of the entire Star Wars franchise with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 53%. However, it now looks like the fandom has evolved and so has their original opinion on the first prequel film starring Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and more.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Celebrates 25 Years
Back when The Phantom Menace was first released in theatres, the film was put on a blast by die-hard fans who expected something greater and better from George Lucas. Star Wars: Episode I did not live up to the fans’ expectations.
Both fans and critics did not take it easy on the prequel, which tells the origin story of Darth Vader. Everything from the writing to the character of Jar Jar Binks received unending hate from the viewers. Ahmed Best, who played the role of the animated Jar Jar Binks, was so traumatized by the backlash he received that he even contemplated suicide at one point. You can imagine just how bad it had gotten for The Phantom Menace.
Of course, things didn’t get much better for Episode II and Episode III, and the overall trilogy was once considered some of the worst works in the franchise.
However, 25 years later, The Phantom Menace is finally getting the love and attention it deserves. The appreciation for the film has only grown in recent years. Over time, the fans began to understand and appreciate the complex characters in the film, including Jar Jar Binks, who was once heavily ridiculed. Not to mention that the expansion of the Star Wars universe with projects like The Clone Wars and Obi-Wan Kenobi provided fans with additional context about the characters and storylines of The Phantom Menace.
All in all, The Phantom Menace is finally being applauded for almost everything it was disliked for initially. Take a look at what some of the fans had to say about the film when Star Wars’ official Instagram account shared the original teaser trailer of Episode 1 on the occasion of its 25th anniversary:
@tony_carnev: Before the woke ages. Before Disney (the true empire) took over, there was peace.
@bourbongolf: Back when Star Wars was Star Wars.
@seanocuana: Don’t care what anyone says…this was a brilliant brilliant brilliant movie!
@jmaruyama: One of the best trailers of all time. I remember it well.
@estebsak52: Still better than everything Disney has ever made for Star Wars.
These are just a few of the many fans who have vocalized their love and support for the film. This is the redemption arc everyone deserves!
George Lucas Defends The Phantom Menace
After A New Hope (1977), Lucas was returning to the franchise about twenty years later, and of course, the expectations were soaring through the skies. However, we all know what happened once The Phantom Menace was released in theatres. While its box office run ended with a whopping $924 million during its initial release, the negativity around it was enough to make Lucas step out and defend his piece of work.
He stated (via World of Reel), “I love Episode I very much because it fills in a lot of the holes. I really wanted to do that.” He went on to add how people forgot that the film was made for children and ended up judging a bit too harshly since fans from the time of A New Hope had obviously grown up.
When it came out, we got blasted out of the water and then the movie had this patina around it of failure and stupidity and whatever. The films were designed for 12-year-olds. I said that right from the very, very beginning and the very first interviews I did for A New Hope. It’s just that they were so popular with everybody, that everybody forgot that.
Lucas added
Then, when I came back to do Phantom Menace, it was 20 years later. So if you were 10 years old when you saw A New Hope, you would be 30 years old when you saw Phantom Menace. So you weren’t a kid anymore. I think you were kind of embarrassed, and what you thought was a really fantastic movie for a 12-year-old wasn’t that great for a grownup. I think that was the main cause of the fall of Episodes I, II, and III. Believe me, it took a beating.
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, The Phantom Menace has been re-released in theatres, so if you want to relive the experience or give the film another chance, now’s the time!
Stream The Phantom Menace on Disney+.
