Lucas now more than ever claims star wars is meant for little kids and he usually says that as a reason why their is a jar jar and other childish antics in the PT films. He says "kids love them"
I have a hard time believing he started star wars with little kids in mind. When you watch a new hope. Which is the only OT films that truly has lucas stamp on it in the same fashion as the PT films. He wrote it. He directed it. The only real difference is with a new hope unlike the pt films he had talented people surrounding him. Kurtz especially.
When you watch a new hope you do not see any jar jar type creatures that clearly play to the little kiddies. You do not have the 3rd grade humor that the PT films have. It is a fantasy picture but it has adult elements and it is a serious film. It is not dumb downed. More than that when you look at the long lines around the theaters back then and the hundreds of people stretched around the block you see mostly adults. You see adults getting married in star wars shirts, adults dancing to star wars disco. Sure star wars appealed to kids just as much as adults but the point is with the OT films you could be either a child or adult and they appealed to both. With the PT films they appeal to mostly children while adults look at them and shake their head at all the childish and silly scenes and childish screenplays. The OT films had a sense or seriousness about them. It was a galaxy suffering under the rule of an evil empire. With heros struggling to restore freedom. That is not childish in anyway. THe PT story arc was suppose to be about the rise and fall of a republic. With the guardians and heros of that republic being hunted down and killed all the while a WAR was suppose to be going on. (the clone wars) how did lucas get childish immature ideas out of that back story?
Now all lucas wants to say is 'these pictures dont have to be good or serious they are meant for children.
That is what he says now but those of us who are old enough to remember how he us to be and have access to old magazine interviews know the truth. he was lucas comment on that topic back in 1980
"Star Wars was done with all the energy and intelligence and thought that I could muster. it was not done like "Oh, this is just a kids movie , so we don't have to worry about it" it was done like "this is going to be the best movie that can possibly be made under the circumstances" I think that because of that attitude, star wars shines among all the other films that are done in the science fiction genre." - George Lucas circa 1980