I don’t think my opinion of Ep I has changed much over the years. I loved it in 99 and I still do. I am not a fan of the longer pod race. I think that wrecks the flow of the film so I like the original cut, but I do like CG Yoda to match the other two films. I never did object to Jar Jar or the Gungans. I thought it was a brilliant piece of world building by Lucas. And face it, Threepio was pretty comic in the OT.
AOTC has issues. I think this one could have been done so much better. I think Lucas took his time on Ep I and on Ep II he brought on a co-writer and it bombed. And Lucas’s attempt at comic relief with Threepio and the battle droid switching heads is the most horrible sequence in all the films. It is on part with Harvey Corman’s alien chief in the Holiday Special. This should have been a film where you see the friend relationship between Anakin and Obi-wan. Anakin’s fall would have been that much more bittersweet if Obi-wan was too much of a friend and that is why he failed to teach Anakin. That argument in Padme’s apartment just derails their whole relationship. The story outside that is fine. But that is enough that I rate AOTC 8 out of 9 in the Saga.
I think the flaw in ROTS is subtlety. Too much of it. After a lot of views and a lot of contemplation I can see the depths of the story, but it is just so … unexplained on the surface that it draws it down. But the subtlety here started in Ep I. So he was at least consistent. But there were things he did that could have been more obvious that would have gotten a better audience reaction. I feel that Palaptine used the dark side to unwillingly turn Anakin once he was vulnerable. I think Palaptine sucked the life force from Padme so she would die to cement Vader’s turn. And I think that Palpatine used the force to keep Vader alive. Possibly all along, but definitely from Mustafar to Coruscant.
I think the biggest flaw of the prequels stems from the success of the OT. No one wanted to direct a Star Wars film and no one wanted to give Lucas any constructive feedback on his scripts. I think those things are where the negative comes from and disguises the same genius who gave us the OT.