TPM gave you optimism?
The film ended much like ANH: they lost someone important but they won the battle, stopped the invasion, found Anakin Skywalker.
Not the quality of the film.
The next two featured a galactic war breaking out, the Jedi being murdered. TFA saw Han murdered, the entire galactic government dead and the First Order actually evacuated (unlike Tarkin). Rogue One everyone died. TLJ, there are like 7 rebels left and Luke is dead.
It’s been a run of increasingly serious Star Wars films. Good films but not the most uplifting subject material. I’d wager this is maybe the first one since TPM that kids could fully get behind, which is what launched Star Wars to begin with.