If Ed Wood had been a multi-millionaire with access to early 21st century VFX, he would’ve made movies of exactly the same quality.
That’s part of the charm of the prequels for me, honestly. The fact that they’re so unapologetically George’s movies, with all the good and bad that that entails. It’s preferable to movies that feel like they were made by a board room.
I wish more prequel fans thought this way, really. I can understand loving the prequels, warts and all. What I can’t fathom is the mentality that insists there are no warts.
Yeah, it’s a strange phenomenon. A few years ago, it seemed like prequel fans used to be more laid back and more open to criticism of the movies. They used to be more willing to laugh alongside you at the prequels’ ridiculous moments. But as time has gone on, the prequel fandom has gotten more and more fervent and unironic and sensitive to criticism, which is a shame. Now you have all these video essays about how the prequels are masterpieces and how the flaws aren’t actually flaws.
I’m pretty sure it is people in my age demographic who are the most like this, and it’s actually the thing that makes me feel a bit disenfranchised when it comes to talking with fellow Prequel fans because I accept they are flawed movies, but I still cherish them.
When I first heard about prequel criticism I’ll admit I was a bit shocked, but after listening to more of the arguments I found that I did agree with many of them. It’s actually a funny story because on of the first criticisms I heard about these movies came from my middle school theater arts teacher who said “Jar Jar Binks is one of the problems with those movies.” Of course I disagree with that point, I’ve always loved Jar Jar, but it did “wake me up” so to say.