By skyforbes People wanted to see the rise of Anakin, how the story was going to build up and how Obi-Wan became the Jedi. We all figured that it was going to be a good movie and that everybody was guaranteed to like it.
Instead, we get a kids show with Jar-Jar's antics, kid Anakin playing and doing podracing and going underwater to the Gungan City. Almost nobody liked Jar-Jar, podracing went on for too long and Gungan City felt something out of 20,000 Meters Under The Sea. There was even a whole petition to remove or cut down Jar-Jar out of the remaining two prequels (that somehow worked).
Also, I felt like that they should have aged up Anakin a bit more because Jake Lloyd just wasn't the right fit. Without Darth Maul and the whole fight scene with John Williams' Duel of the Fates which is still the GOAT, this movie probably would have been forgotten by now.
The second film that came out (Attack of the Clones) was not very good at all. I do remember very little hype behind this movie as people were preferring Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Also, it came out in the same summer as Spider-Man, which made more money than Clones. It still made tons of money but not as much as Phantom Menace. It does have a few good things such as Christopher Lee's performance and the score but other than that, it's a boring movie and the worst out of the mainline Star Wars films.
Then we get onto Revenge of the Sith. The only thing I got to say about this movie that it's fine but at least people liked it because it brought back the Star Wars feel, something that we didn't experience since Return of the Jedi in 1983.
Also, I am doing this post because Revenge of the Sith is still on its 20th anniversary so that has something to do with it.
Unlike the original trilogy, I was not a fan of the prequels at all. I since cooled down on them quite a bit over the past several years but they just aren't good Star Wars movies at all with a few redeeming qualities.