The LA Times has an interesting piece about how Lucas' seclusion is producing bad movies. Here's a clip to let you decide for yourself:

Lucas should never have directed the movies himself. After "Phantom Menace" arrived with a thud, the filmmaker's defenders said he was simply rusty--he hadn't directed a movie since the original "Star Wars." Things would be better next time. Well, they aren't. Like its predecessor, "Clones" is missing what we crave from great films--vibrant storytelling, narrative clarity, compelling drama and good acting (with exemptions granted to Ewan McGregor and Christopher Lee).

For all its state-of-the-art technology, "Clones" has an air of musty nostalgia; it lacks the emotional intensity of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" or the playful verve of "Spider-Man." Outside of a few inspiring action sequences and a crowd-pleasing lightsaber duel between Yoda and the evil Count Dooku, the movie has no sense of pacing. It's slowed by endless plot exposition, portentous foreshadowing and a series of hapless romantic encounters between Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman.

To be blunt, "Star Wars" doesn't need Lucas behind the camera any more than the James Bond series needed original 007 director Terence Young to survive. The second and third "Star Wars" films did just fine in the hands of journeymen directors Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand. The new movies would've benefited from independent-minded younger directors who might have challenged some of Lucas' cobwebby creative impulses.

Lucas' best work was made with strong collaborators: Lawrence Kasdan, for example, wrote "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and was a co-writer on "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi."

As he proved in the "Indiana Jones" movies (Lucas produced them along with director Steven Spielberg) and in the development of Industrial Light and Magic, the industry's top special-effects company, Lucas' talents are probably better suited as a conceptual thinker and producer than director. He's never liked directing anyway. Harrison Ford said that when he was shooting "Star Wars," the only direction Lucas gave him was, "OK, same thing, only better" and "Faster, more intense."

Editing was Lucas' first love. As his old friend film editor Walter Murch once told me: "George only became a director so he could have better material to edit."