Personally, I read the novel of TPM before the movie came out. I had a great time waiting for tickets and to see the film. I saw it three times in the theater, bought the widescreen tape, than bought is again when I found a cheap used copy. I even bought the DVD. I saw AOTC in the theaters, but I wasn't as big on Star Wars at the time. I enjoyed both films.

How'd I do this, you ask. Simple. I didn't go in expecting the OT. I know that the reason I love the OT so much is because I grew up with them. Same goes for the original Star Trek. I knew that no matter how good the PT is, it shall never measure up to the OT. End of story. So I went in expecting enjoyable films that didn't contradict the EU, which I got. Sure they could be better. Yes, Lucas should have wrote them in his prime. Sure there are things that bug me(such as killing off Qui-Gon and Darth Maul before really using them). Maybe they aren't the films people expected. Then again, I found that most people had too high of expectations to begin with.