Well, I can't speak for the other TNG films, since they aren't very good, but as for FC's re-invention of Picard--it worked. It was a better direction. That's all it really boils down to. I realise it is out of place with the utopian socialist pacificism of TNG, but I always felt that was the series' biggest flaw and here was a vision of a human being that felt believable. Take that continuity!
Its much like "I am your father" the biggest ret-con in history. But dramatically, it works.