Recently watched TPM on mute, I appreciated it a lot more just by taking it all in visually, so much great design and I could follow the story pretty well despite having not seen it in a long time. I’ve heard another good thing to try if you hate the line delivery is to watch the prequels dubbed in a foreign language with subtitles. Moments still took me out of the movie but they were fewer and farther between, the acting is the biggest fish of the problem, that improves with each prequel.

TPM also I can understand feeling underwhelming to those who really would have preferred to see the characters they already loved in an episode 7, instead it feels like the pilot of a tv series or like the first or second Harry Potter. So it feels like a rejection of the new characters made worse by wooden performances and an overall resistance to change leaving a bad impression. I can admit I just didn’t grow up with these movies first and it does influence my bias, but I’ve come to welcome the prequels to the table when I consider the generation that would actually grow up watching 1-6 in order and don’t have an implicit bias. Anyone is allowed to ignore them but I don’t really think a Gungan is dumber than an Ewok. The way I remember the theatrical releases most people at the time were confused by the sleeker ships and droid technology, and that they wanted to cut to the chase and see Anakin become Darth Vader. But it starts lighthearted and slow and people got impatient. The OT is a classic many fans don’t want tampered with, for some that includes backstory.