You’ve got me interested in seeing the movie again. I’m going to dig out my laserdisc. I have not watched it since 2005 or so.
I have softened on the prequels quite a bit in the last 15 years. Most of my dislike for them in the beginning i will admit it was because of the originals being suppressed. And believing that they watered down the brand.
I look at what Lucas was trying to do versus the execution of the finished movie.
There are interesting themes in the prequels, bogged down by inconsistent acting and some bad cgi.

Reading the screenplays and watching the behind the scenes stuff and reading about the making of the films at least gives you some idea what Lucas was trying to do. Must have been a daunting task, the scope he had for the prequels in his head and on paper was impressive. Much more expansive than the OT, more worlds and more world building. But to realize that on screen and on a budget required sacrifices. And as easy as it is to write something it is much more hard to realize it, and cgi can only do so much.

I have a profound amount of respect for Lucas as an artist no matter what i think of him suppressing his own much loved films. It was a great sadness to me when he finally retired and sold Star Wars, that he gave up creative endeavors such as directing movies or producing and writing them.