I don’t think I would call TPM well crafted. There’s very little story in it. No identifiable protagonist. Nothing means anything. AOTC and ROTS are trash but they have actual protagonists who make decisions that affect the outcome of the film. Both these films explore themes and ideas and have a central conflict that is present from begining to end.

And apart from the very impressive visual effects the rest of the direction is piss poor at best. Many scenes with as much tension and energy as a table read. TPMs saving grace is that it doesn’t try and do too much story stuff. The plot is simple and easy to follow. The stakes are so remarkably low that its all too easy to just sit back and enjoy the fireworks.

AOTC fails to make its romance connect with the audience and ROTS has a character turn that is so abrupt and underwritten that it ruins Darth Vader. But both these films show significantly more craft in writing and directing.

AOTC and ROTS have conflict, TPM has none. TPM is the worst prequel.