Do yourself a favor: If you purchase this CD before The Phantom Menace arrives in theaters, keep it in the shrink-wrap. Why? Because no matter how good--or (gulp) bad--the movie is, knowing the story beforehand won't help... more » any. Listening to the 20-minute plot synopsis (and reading along) gives just enough information so that watching the film won't be a totally new experience; and while this read-along is ideal for kids, they won't truly appreciate it until after watching the movie once themselves. But if you must give in to temptation, be forewarned: the narrator here adds nothing to the story, and the quick snippets of dialogue from the cast will feel out of place and forced to anyone old enough to have seen the original trilogy in theaters. --Randy Silver« less
Do yourself a favor: If you purchase this CD before The Phantom Menace arrives in theaters, keep it in the shrink-wrap. Why? Because no matter how good--or (gulp) bad--the movie is, knowing the story beforehand won't help any. Listening to the 20-minute plot synopsis (and reading along) gives just enough information so that watching the film won't be a totally new experience; and while this read-along is ideal for kids, they won't truly appreciate it until after watching the movie once themselves. But if you must give in to temptation, be forewarned: the narrator here adds nothing to the story, and the quick snippets of dialogue from the cast will feel out of place and forced to anyone old enough to have seen the original trilogy in theaters. --Randy Silver
CD Reviews
Good for kids, teens and eager star wars fans hands off!
"First of all, this CD is clearly for kids. Especially the 2 - 7 year olds will enjoy the read along - style of the hughly coloured book accompanying the cd. Those who expect a high tech soundeffect - adventure will be greatly dissapointed - not only that the use of soundeffects and original dialog is very limited, unfortunately the old music from the elder movies was used...although the new score was already availabe. Nevertheless the quite complex story is vivdly told and any scary, for children unsuitable elements like violence and too dark descriptions of evil characters are left out. A little more atmosphere would have done alot to improve the overall experience! Good for kids, teenies and eager star wars fans - hands off! Get the audio book from EPISODE I - UNABRIDGED instead!"
A very bad and disappointing product.
Carlos Santillan | Mexico City, Mexico. | 05/03/2000
(1 out of 5 stars)
"As a big fan of Star Wars I would have expected that this CD contained an audio version of the movie, but instead this is a poor pretext for another licensed product."
Poor audio version of a great movie.
Carlos Santillan | 07/19/1999
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Having grown up listening to a 60 minute audio tape of Star Wars over and over, I expected the CD of Episode 1 purchased for my son's 6th birthday to be of similar quality. I was sorely disappointed with length, quality and lack of significant movie dialog. The story is severly edited, probably less than one-half hour, and almost all narration with little in the way of sounds and dialog from the movie. Hopefully, someone will come out with a better audio version because this one leaves a lot to be desired."
Can I take back that star?
Carlos Santillan | 06/08/1999
(1 out of 5 stars)
"This is the worst! 99% narration and all of that bad. I used to listen to my Star Wars story LP over and over (which is why, unfortunately, I can still tell you that Luke and the crew were trapped in trash compactor 3263827) and it was great. A narrator was used sparringly to make transitions and all the dialog and music was straight from the movie, this is completely opposite. Now I know the Lucas marketing strategy is to drip out products like frozen molassas over the next hundred and fifty years, but this, like JAR JAR, was just bad thinking. If you're looking for a read along book, okay here's a really bad one, go nuts. But if you want the MOVIE on a CD that your children can listen to without nodding off thanks to a voice-over guy getting paid scale (at least that's what he's worth -- the editors and writers of the book too) pass on this."
This is a READ ALONG children's version of the MOVIE
Carlos Santillan | 05/04/1999
(3 out of 5 stars)
"You get a nice read along book with cool pictures, but this is definately aimed at kids ("when you hear the WHOOSH sound, turn the page...") It does feature sound bites from the movie ("Kill them immediately," Sidious said...) but the music is recycled from 1983's RETURN OF THE JEDI. It uses some STAR WARS sound effects (mostly light sabres) but not having seen the movie, I am uncertain if the rest of the effects are actually from PHANTOM MENACE. In general, as an adult, I am a bit disappointed with this CD. But then, of course, I'm not 10 years old....."
Track Listings (1) - Disc #1