The prequels are weird for me. As a kid I loved them. I didn’t know people hated them until years later when I started watching YouTube reviews and there’d occasionally be some comment about how the prequels were terrible. Eventually I learned about how the original movies were made first and the prequels came later.
It wasn’t until I saw the Plinkett reviews that I finally understood why people didn’t like the prequels and it ended up rubbing off on me. I went through this period of about five years where I thought the prequels were terrible and I basically became an original trilogy purist.
I ended up changing my mind after rewatching them for a podcast I was doing. They weren’t as bad as I remembered and I actually ended up enjoying them. I guess like Groucho Marx said “time wounds all heels.”
Now I have a more balanced view of them. I don’t think Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are that great, but I don’t hate them either. I kind of go back and forth on whether I like them or not. Revenge of the Sith I like, although I do have some problems with it.
I could go on about some of the problems I have with the prequels, but that would take all day. Basically I accept that they exist and every once in awhile I’ll watch them. But for me, the original trilogy is Star Wars. Those are the ones that actually matter to me.