I can’t comment on the reaction to TPM at the time, because I was a kid and only knew other kids opinions and we all liked it… but I do know, once I finally started going on the internet, the discourse about the film was overwhelmingly negative.
Honestly it still kinda is, but I feel like there’s now a pretty significant section of PT lovers out there (mostly people who saw them when they were kids too, if I had to guess).