I agree with you, bad was a bit too strong of a word. The prequels could have been great, had Lucas had the same kind of collaboration he did during the original trilogy. That’s what is frustrating with them.
The sequels made by Disney were pure garbage and as cynical as could be in terms of their design.
Imagine if someone had said, “Er, George, having people sitting on couches and expounding about monetary and trade policy is not actually very entertaining.”