Easterhay said:

I'm not entirely sure what you're basing that on - I mean, regarded by whom? The general populace? Star Wars fans as a whole? Fans of the original trilogy? Fans of the original trilogy on the internet? Fans of the original trilogy on this site?

As the group diminishes so does the capacity for anything approaching a broad-minded view, you see.

Any opinions on Star Wars to which I give any credence are those from the target age group. Given that kids of my son's generation are of the Clone Wars generation, I don't know what they think of the prequels, much less the original films, so I don't really have any basis on which I can make sweeping statements about the prequels I'm afraid.

This would assume that Star Wars has a target audience. It doesn't. Because if it's kids, then all that darkness and political discussion makes it a failure. If it's adults, then all that Jar Jar and fart jokes also makes it a failure. I think it's pretty common knowledge that the original films had a lot of adult fans as much as they had kid fans. After all, who the heck was nominating Star Wars for best picture at the 1978 Academy Awards? Not elementary school children. If you propose that George Lucas was targeting elementary school children exclusively with Episode I, then the film represents a significant break in form and focus compared to the other entries and therefore open to criticism, and number two is a terrible example of a kids film for all the adult aspect like senate debates and philosophical discussions.

The opinion I am basing this on is not seven year olds, true, but then Pokemon would be the Shakespear of modern times if I did that so why are we having this discussion as adults?