The time surrounding them was amazing, especially for Star Wars fans. The anticipation of seeing a new Star Wars movie overshadowed anything negative about them.
Anyone that went to a midnight showing of any of the 3 can tell you that the electricity in the air was intoxicating, and the buzz coming out of the theatre having just seen a new Star Wars movie was amazing.
Let me remind the Prequel haters of something - in the theatre, when people saw each Episode the first time, there were cheers and claps and laughs in the right spots.