You must be having a laugh if you think the sequels did any better in terms of storytelling or charm. At least Anakin couldn't go toe to toe with the likes of Dooku from the beginning as Ray ridiculously did with Kylo with basically no training. At least light saber duels actually meant something in terms of life or death.
I think each individual sequel film was more competent in pretty much every aspect of storytelling and filmmaking than the prequels. Character, plot, dialogue, visuals, editing, cinematography, acting, pacing, directing, etc. There's a reason there was generally such a gap in critical reception between both sets of films and that's because the sequels are fundamentally better built. Or at least they are once you get past the "how can X do Y when Z couldn't" inconsistencies that seem to pre-occupy some Star Wars fans, despite running through the entirety of what is a fundamentally silly series of films.
That's not to say the sequels are particularly good films, or that they're not irredeemably disjointed as a trilogy. In fact even the original films have plenty of their own problems, as
most Star Wars films aren't actually all that well made. It's just that the prequel films are legitimately terrible. TPM and AOTC are two of the worst major release films of their respective decades, ill-made and ill-conceived. Watching people defend them is like watching people defend the Michael Bay Transformers films, sending a chill wave of bad taste down my spine.