What I find funny is that people did not like the sequels - so therefore the prequels are...somehow.....good now ?
If your pizza is cold you don't say " man that dog shit I ate last night doesn't seem so bad now ! "
The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker had dumb scripts. But in every other way they're superior to the prequels.
Good CGI. Good acting. Good pacing. Exciting. Consistent tone. ( for the most part ).
The prequels were bad FILMS. Not just bad Star Wars.
If I had to try and explain it, I would boil down the reevaluation of the prequels to a few factors:
- People become nostalgic for things over time. Hate him or love him, George Lucas no longer has anything to do with Star Wars, and the prequels represent the last time he did. Episodes 1-6 will always stand out for that reason.
- People are afraid of the mob. Now that the sequels are the scapegoat, a lot of the people who for a long time enjoyed certain aspects of the prequels are no longer afraid to give them some credit.
- The prequels have been expanded upon with countless games, novels, and television series. Over time, some of the oft-criticized moments of the prequels (e.g., ridiculous lightsaber battles) became widely accepted by the fan base because they made their way into more and more Star Wars media.
- The handling of the sequels by Lucasfilm was so botched that people began awarding the prequels bonus points for at least having a vision. "Intent is 9/10 of the law" essentially. I think that this is an interesting commentary on how subjective film reviews are and how much our opinions are influenced by external factors.
I fully expect the sequels to benefit from these same kinds of things over time. Disney will release two or three big-budget television series that will fill in a bunch of gaps, kids who dressed up as Kylo Ren and Rey for Halloween will grow up, and all of a sudden the sequels will be good now.