The thing everyone has to remember is that Lucas was creating a kids movie.
If this is the case, then why would George have been panicking that he made a kids movie just before the release of Star Wars? If that was his goal all along then he wouldn’t have been worried. First i remember George calling Star Wars a kids movie was after the prequels were slammed by fans.
Ill see if I can find the interview, But there was an interview, at the time of SW, in which he said that his target audience was 12-14 yr olds.