Perhaps the prequels are uniquely suited to appealing to kids, which is why they are getting more love these days from people who grew up with them, as well as kids today who are seeing them for the first time. If that’s true, then perhaps the only cohort who can’t widely appreciate them are those who were already too old when the films premiered.

That feels like what happened to me - I unquestioningly accepted TPM as a pre-teen when it was released, but then AOTC didn’t hit the same way, and seeing ROTS felt like attending a funeral. Maybe it didn’t have as much to do with the quality of the films as it did with me growing up.

It’s like Disney’s Aladdin trilogy. I loved Aladdin and the King of Thieves and watched it about as much as the original as a kid, but I imagine it would be more difficult to watch as an adult, especially if I didn’t have the associated nostalgia. There is a reason it was straight to video. Though to be fair, that movie still has some points in its favor.