I think the prequels are an instance where a lot of the casting was phenomenal, it was just let down by a poor script and bad direction. Neeson was obviously great as his character as was Samuel L. Jackson. The real gem was Ewan McGregor though, who I thought perfectly fit the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and I saw a logical progression towards the awesomeness of Sir Alec Guinness. Natalie Portman was let down a lot by the script (I know she can act), but it's hard to forgive Christensen. The story sucked and the scripts were even worse than the original trilogy. It's time to acknowledge that George Lucas sucks as a director, and as a writer (his real blemish in the OT being his unnatural scripting and the Ewoks). He's a good world builder and marketer, he's willing to push technology and try new things, but he's a really bad director. That's something you hear all the time from the cast. Episode IV is his one lucky masterpiece, but even then the best movie of his saga was directed by someone else. Even a nobody was capable of doing a better job than Lucas, which is kinda sad.