For me there are two big positives to the earlier movies; the original trilogy was amazing because it was something new and it was my introduction into Star Wars.
The prequal trilogy was the movies I grew up with; less amazing than the original trilogy but what I absolutely loved about it was how it managed to give you an idea of the scale of things.
Like when in EP7 the new republic government solar system is instantly destroyed by starkiller base... who cares? Billions of people died in that moment, but none of them were introduced, the movie didnt allow us to develop a bond with them. The prequal trilogy did a better job in building a world around the main characters; they were part of something much bigger.
The new movies lack both; they don't do anything new and they don't build a world around the characters. It feels empty, and I couldn't care less for most of the cast if they make it or not.
Maybe its also the timeframe we live in; every movie needs to be full of action and movies rarely take the time to build up to something grand. I miss the much much much slower approach to movies like The Godfather had.