Exactly. Why reduce Jarjar's screentime when you can just develop the character, why forget about Midichlorians when you can redeem the idea with further info (ie tie it into the cloning somehow)

ANd there were other things, Jango seemed like sort of a fans wet dream, and the whole Yoda fighting, Padme's ripped shirt, etc. It just felt a lot like fan fiction, thats the best way I can explain it. Forgetting the OT entirely I don't think AOTC really feels like a sequel to TPM, I don't feel it connects very well with the first film. Two things that I think were really set up and not followed through with were Anakin freeing the slaves, and the jedi searching for the sith master. In the same way that Obi-wan was tracking the assassin, I think it would of been cool to learn that someone like Mace windu had been out in the galaxy for months (maybe years) following leads and searching for Darth Sidious.