Problem is not that Qui Gonn and Padme don't have personnalities at all, they have some, in some way. But they are not very likeable to the audience, at least not to me. And surely not as much as the OT characters.

Frankly the word that comes to me to describe most of the TPM characters is: Stoic. So no wonder people have trouble when asked to describe them.

And even if I kind of like Neeson's Qui Gonn, there is part of his character that I don't like - like taking a child away from his mother based on the fact that he has "pure" blood or something. And I would not mind that much if there was at least ONE very likeable character to root for. But there is none.