>>211892032 (OP)The prequels were poorly written films that still had some very entertaining and intriguing moments. Children who grew up watching them, as well as the cartoons that did a lot of work to smooth over their rough edges, are now in their 20s/30s. Many of these former prequel kids have zero understanding of critique beyond "I liked it, so it was good." They genuinely cannot do the tiny amount of mental labor it takes to say "they're not well written, but I really enjoy them."
The sequels have yet to build up and audience like that. They didn't really land with children, being too self-referential to the larger series, and so far there hasn't been an equivalent to the Clone Wars cartoon to "fix up" the ST. (Mandoverse might be sort of doing that, we'll see)
Give it twenty years and there may be some kids who grow up really enjoying the ST, but right now they're movies that can be labeled "controversial" at best.