My brother and I have discussed this a bit, and I have to say that the prequels are mixed: there are very good things and very bad things.
For the bad, I totally agree that the dialog and wooden acting were horrible and will not stand the test of time. I count Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) and Ian McDiarmid (Senator/Chancellor Palpatine) as the great exceptions. These two talented actors have been around in the industry long enough that they can turn in a great performance even with bad direction or poorly written dialog. I think both steal every scene they are in.
For the good: Lucas does very well in world building. From the forests and plains of Naboo, to the watery world of Camino, to endlessly urban Coruscant, Mustafar, Geonosis, Lucas does know how to craft worlds and settings. Even the battle above Coruscant between the Republic and Separatists was epic in its staging. Sound design has always been superb with Star Wars, and the soundtrack, especially Duel of the Fates is great.
This was one of the problems that my brother and I had with the latest movie (The Force Awakens). It seemed the whole Star Wars universe got smaller. The desert planet of Jakka (Tatoonie copy), a brief glimpse of the capital of the New Republic before it is obliterated, snowy ice world. All were underwhelming as far as world building goes. You never got a sense of a new threat squaring off with the good guys. Even the opening post-crawl scene of the large New Order ship eclipsing the moon was rather dull. Even the soundtrack, apart from Rey’s theme sounded like Williams was coasting a bit.
” I count Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) and Ian McDiarmid (Senator/Chancellor Palpatine) as the great exceptions. These two talented actors have been around in the industry long enough that they can turn in a great performance even with bad direction or poorly written dialog. I think both steal every scene they are in.”
I agree, they delivered solid acting in every scene they were in, no matter how poorly conceived or written the scene was... but they were by far the exception in these films.
The force awakens was about rebuilding the brand IMHO... don’t offend anyone, play it safe.. and honestly retell in the macro the story of the first film.
Good guys, nobodies... big bag guys... big bad weapon... good guy nobodies have to destroy it...
A cantina scene for good measure.... an apocolypse now rip off leading into a big fight scene...
a sword fight for no reason because apparently storm troopers just decide to drop their guns in the middle of a big battle and fight hand to hand...
It was really about rebuilding and playing it safe, while making it all action and special effects that are how films are made today....
Will see how the next one goes...