I'm from the school who believe things that are left unexplained or in mystery are more interesting. It leaves it up to your imagination. (Of course these are movies so we're supposed to see SOMETHING for sure, that's the point) I think the fall of Anakin and the legendary fight with him vs. Obi-Wan we all had heard about had more power when left unseen. You could just picture it in your mind. Same thing with the explanation of the Force. The way Obi-wan explained it was simple without a lot of detail, and it had this real PRESENCE to it the way he described it. A sense of wonder. Well, with all this midi-chlorian explanation it takes all that magic away. Not once during the prequels did I get this sense of wonder of the Force, which was usually always present when it was used in the OT.
This doesn't directly address how Star Wars (A New Hope) is supposed to be Anakin's story, but I think Vader had a much more powerful character before we knew every last detail about him. So I think if you take the PT into consideration when watching Star Wars you get so much less of Vader than the attention that was paid him in the preceding films it actually lessens the effect Lucas seems to want us to get out of the movie. Or maybe this movie is about the twins running in with the Empire, and we're not supposed to be so focused on Vader. I don't look at the OT in light of the PT because Lucas didn't have it written at the time. It's just a mess now, whether he sees it that way or not.