buddy-x-wing said:

I still don't understand how introducing Anakin at such an early age did any service to the overall story, they should have gone with a mid-teen that was closer to Natalie Portman in age. The problem is you can't expect an audience to make an emotional attachment to a character they know will grow up to become DARTH VADER

By introducing Anakin so young they wasted a whole movie where they should have been establishing the friendship between Obi-Wan and Anakin, and the beginnings of a budding romance with Padme, and as a result none of their characters showed any character development until the 2nd film

the problem is, lucas is not capable of doing that. He has no real storytelling skills that involve characters arcs and relationships on even the most rudimentary level. Of course, he also had nothing planned for the PT story - except maybe how the emporer was given his power.

you mention AOTC, but even in this film the characters are wasted - anakin and padmes relationship is laughable unless you forget TPM and just assume they have know each other for quite some time. That elevator scene in AOTC - lucas shoehorned that in during pickups because he forgot that obi-wan and anakin were supposed to have a relationship.