I succeeded in liking the Phantom Menace at the cinema. I knew that it was some kind of a forced love (which Lucas trumped with Anakin vs. Padme one movie later). But I kinda liked it.
Then the DVD arrived and everything got worse. The pacing was off (an already too long race got longer) and some CG scenes surrounding the pod race got longer and more embarrassing. That was the moment when I knew that Lucas himself got off the track. I didn’t know about the special edition changes back then.
Yep = same thing happened to me… I honestly got some enjoyment about of seeing TPM the first time. It was cool to see Jedi wrecking shit and just to see Star Wars after 16 years. However, the feeling did wear off and the movie did not age well for me