8 years old here. I got caught up in the hype, of course.
KFC, Taco Bell, and some other fast food company had Star Wars toys and I collected as many as possible.
My mom and my dad took me to see it and I was so excited.
I do remember getting up from my seat and sitting in my mom's lap because I was bored in some part of the movie.
I don't remember what part it was.
I remember being sad when Qui-Gon died, and for the longest time I called Darth Maul "horny" not knowing it had other connotations, but I digress.
How do I feel about the movie now?
It has its good and its bad. From here on out, this is purely my opinion and I'm not going to force it down anyone's throat.
I believe It does a good job of setting up the Jedi as protectors of the Galaxy.
I have mixed feelings on the senate scenes, sure, it adds to the overall universe, but I feel it detracts from the "flow" of the movie.
I think other mediums, such as the Clone Wars series, portrayed the senate in much more favorable light.
As a kid I loved the pod racing, now, I just fast forward through that scene too long, and it gives very little in terms of story and character development.
With me, I don't quite understand why Anakin's origin had to be so darn convoluted.
With the virgin birth that's never explained in the movies, (and yes, I've read Plagueis) to him being a slave who has to win a race to be fre e, to him too old to be a Padawan.
Even as a kid, I remember saying "He's my age, how is he "old"?
From what we learn in A New Hope, he was a gifted pilot when he had met Obi-Wan, he could have been a youngling in the temple who was an apt pilot, but nope, he's a slave from Tatooine who literally falls in love with the first pretty girl he meets, and lets those feelings fester into an obsession.
I had a crush on a girl when I was 10 years old, I wasn't still in love with her 10 years later, but that's crossing over into Attack of the Clones, and you asked about Phantom Menace specifically.
Seriously, though, how the heck does a 10 year old destroy a space station?