I think the special effects in the prequels are probably the best part of them. They’re well done, actually if someone edited together nothing but the action scenes that might be a better way to watch the movies.
My father hated science fiction, but loved the first Star Wars movies so much we saw them several times. It was as hokey as a lot of old western serials, but you really couldn’t go wrong with the mythic theme: Hero goes off to become a better man (studying with a great wise man/mystic/mentor) then returns to overthrow the dark overlord/tyrannical king - gasp! his own father!
It was well-paced, snappy, and had genuinely funny moments. The Han/Leia romance was done well and we genuinely cared about the characters.
I agree with the previous post that said the prequels diminished the source material. The “midichlorian” crap completely robs Luke of the “very determined young apprentice, struggles to transform himself into a hero” schitck, by dismissing it all as “inherited space bugs”. And Anakin neutred Vader.
There is Russian film Night Watch, that has a young boy whose destiny is to choose between the forces of light and the forces of the dark. His character was rendered better and with less screen time.
It would have been far better for a slightly older Anakin to come to terms with the fact that he had a special knack for using the force, and being a bit conflicted. He could be conqueror or liberator. Like Spiderman’s “with great power comes great responsibility.” Anakin/Vader’s story could have been as epic as Luke’s with acting that was just as bad as Hamill’s.
Phantom Menace was genuinely terrible movie. I didn’t give a rat’s ass about any of the characters and the movie left me cold. If not for the original movies, I never would have gone to see the other two prequels because I had nothing invested in any of the characters.
Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were not good actors, and Harrison Ford got bye on charisma alone, but as much fault should go to the directing. The reason that Empire Strikes Back was so good was that Lucas was not at the helm. Lucas can’t handle actors. I remember an interview where Christensen remarked that they knew it wasn’t good, but Lucas would reshoot and was happy with the result.
That said, the characters in the first three were better, as were the interactions, even with the bad acting.
You have got to be kidding! The characters were wooden and trite at best, the acting was some of the worst I’ve ever seen (right down there with Plan 9), and the writing was pathetic. There is absolutely no reason in the Universe for the prequels to exist other than Lucas’ greed and ego.
Sorry, silenus, I wasn’t clear. By first three, I meant first three produced.
ETA: and by characters, I mean Han, Luke, and Leia were more thought out and well-rounded characters with somewhat believable motivations.
I cared about Qui-Quon and Obi-Wan, little boy Anakin maybe a little. Yoda, you gotta like him. That’s about it.
That would explain why most of the scene’s felt like they were doing the first run-through of their lines.
In Star Wars the acting was pretty dreadful (Luke mourning Obi Wan looked more like his mom said he couldn’t keep the dog that followed him home), but the overall pacing was better, so it wasn’t as painful.
Whew! Had me worried for a second. 
Nope, Qui-Quon and Obi were way too Batman and Robin for me. They even had their bat-scuba gear on their utility belts. I got no sense that Qui-Quon was a formidable Jedi, he lacked the mystique of Sir Alec as Obi-Wan, and I found him relatively uninteresting.
I wanted Anakin to die.
I cared about Yoda and R2D2, but only because of their roles in the original movies. If I hadn’t seen the original movies, and wouldn’t have cared about them either.