nightstalkerpoet said:

Going with that concept, I can see how you could probably get the audience to emotionally connect with Anakin. Though does it leave room for an emotional connection with Padme? It seems like using that as a starting point would leave her as a very one dimensional character, rather than someone we care about at all and a driving point of Anakin's fall.

Yeah, it seems many of the characters have become less dimensional so to speak. I think of this as unfortunate, yet a necessary evil and not altogether outrageous. Many epic films are somewhat lacking in the dimensionality of their secondary characters.