I liked both The Phantom Menace and The Force Awakens.
The Phantom Menace is certainly dry as toast, but it looked and felt like a Star Wars movie. I’m not ‘crazy’ about it and warned people that it was mediocre at best when it came out, but I wasn’t as repulsed by it as I was after sitting through Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith (those were downright horrible).
The Force Awakens was done well. It was exactly as I expected ... a predictable nostalgia trip with new characters. I enjoyed it and continue to enjoy it when its on. I don’t think people understand how badly the prequels damaged the Star Wars brand ... That’s why they had to play it safe and use a known formula to win over the general public. It’s a great movie that helps to forget about life for two hours.
The new one had better take some risks though ... If it’s a rehash of The Empire Strikes Back, nothing is going to save it. This “middle” chapter is very critical this time around since they gave Rey all sorts of powers with no explanation in The Force Awakens.
Plus they gave Luke a daughter, that’s a big gimmicks in and of itself.
I'm placing my bet now--Rey gets a similar offer from Kylo Ren and/or Snoke as Luke did from Vader, but she's going to take it. Luke's going to have to pull her back in Episode IX after shunning her in Episode VIII due to his own fear of failure.