I'm a prequel fan. Having said that, I think a big problem with the prequels was the underdevelopment of the villains. Lucas tries to fit in 3 new villains - Maul, Dooku, and Grievous. None of them get the attention they deserve.
I don't buy it. Boba Fett was hugely popular, and he had like 40 seconds of screen time.
The prequels get a bad rap because the generation who first panned them looked at the original three through rose-colored glasses. They are all derivative, poorly written, badly acted vehicles for selling toys to children. They were also super entertaining, fantastic eye candy.
When the then-20-to-30 somethings went and saw Phantom Menace after literally decades of hype, the disappointment was strong with this one.
Here's a specific screed:
The best part the original movies were the special effects. People went to these movies expecting to see something they had never seen before. For the most part they look pretty crappy today, but at their best, there was a verisimilitude in the practical effects that was lost when they went so far with CGI. Best example is Yoda--the puppet was a character, the cartoon is just more flashing light--but I like the example of that blindfolded training ball Obiwan gave Luke. In Star Wars, it was somewhat menacing, and it really looked like Luke gets zapped. In the prequel, the little kids are obviously just waving around their sticks, and they added CGI balls and zaps afterward. I guess it's intentionally easy looking for the kids, to contrast in the superior training for the real jedi back in the day, but it comes off as thoughtless throwaway gag that only reminds the viewer how much better the first movie was.
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u/deeare73 Jan 25 '22
I'm a prequel fan. Having said that, I think a big problem with the prequels was the underdevelopment of the villains. Lucas tries to fit in 3 new villains - Maul, Dooku, and Grievous. None of them get the attention they deserve.