I still stand by that every older actor turned in good performances: Neeson, McGregor, August, McDiarmid, Christopher Lee, and I will concede that Sam Jackson's performance wasn't that great, but I still feel he is TOO big of a star to be in a SW movie, I couldn't get past that bad mo-fo from Pulp Fiction being a jedi.
I just think that Christensen couldn't deliver on those dramatic scenes, especially in ROTS. I won't fault him on the AOTC love story, but the big scene at the end of ROTS with Padme/Anakin/Kenobi on Mustafar is just awful to watch. When Hayden says, "You will not take her from me!!!!!!!!" or "Don't lecture me Obiwan...." Do you think an actor like Eric Bana or Christian Bale or even Ed Norton would play that scene any better? If Lucas would have nixed Jake Lloyd, and hired a real good older actor from the getgo in the PT to play Anakin, I think alot of us would feel differently towards the movies, even with their other faults. The main problem is none of us care about the main character in the PT, and now in the saga too, and I can think of so many better actors that could have filled those shoes, just like Christian Bale did over Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney in Batman Begins last year.