I think his critique is valid. The first movie of every Star Wars trilogy will feature a desert planet with a droid and unknown young force user.
The prequel trilogy seemed to be inferior filmmaking overall, with pacing and emotion just not right, unlike the original trilogy.
Revenge of the Sith is the best of the prequel trilogy, but I found the politics simplistic at best. George tried to hard to make an Iraq War analogy. The Padme-Anakin relationship never felt real to me and Anakin's descent into the Dark Side left me wanting.
I did find this article on
Marcia Lucas to me enlightening and ring true. The original trilogy had many little touches that the prequel trilogy lacked.
SW7 seems to have those little touches, but not to the extent of the original trilogy.