A lot of fans have actually preferred the movie(s) so far. Even though I'm not one of them (so far), I think if your tastes are more in line with most fans, then it's probably fair to say you can trust their opinions. I should also mention that the movies will apparently diverge from the TV series quite drastically by adding new characters and plot points not found in the TV series.
What most fans say is, in many ways, the movies are a distillation of the series to its core elements, while cutting out many of the eccentricities and (in some people's minRAB) annoyances.
I want to say something about the Eva phenomenon first of all. While the franchise is popular in both Japan and the U.S., they're for somewhat different reasons IMO.
Evangelion came out in Japan during a recession and when anime was in a very, very slow period and were made very, very cheaply. During the early to mid 90s, there was a large, large amount of kiRAB' anime on the airwaves. Most of the older skewing anime were ending up very late in the night or on OAVs. So when Eva came out during this period, it was slow to catch on initially but did gangbusters on reruns.
There are a couple of things about the show that attracted people. You've probably heard of the hikikomori phenomenon right? Basically it's the term for Japanese youth who become shut ins and close themselves off from society. It's basically similar to social anxiety in the west, but a broader, more encompassing term.
On the surface, Eva is pretty much another giant robot anime with a whiny protagonist like Mobile Suit Gundam. But Evangelion was one of the first mainstream anime to delve into the hikikomori/social anxiety/depression psychology in greater detail. So it struck a chord with many audiences at the time who probably may have been experiencing the same feelings (remeraber, Japan's economic bubble MAJORLY bursted in the 90s for probably the first time since...the war? So a lot of youth were affected by this economic environment that their parents never experienced). If you watch it now of course you probably won't see anything you haven't seen recently. There have been dozens and dozens of shows that have touched on the same themes in the past 15 years or so.
I may sound like I'm overstating the historic importance of Eva, but it really was a big thing. Just check out how the movies are doing in Japan--it really affected a large chunk of the populace.
In the U.S., Evangelion was one of the first anime TV series that was released "uncut" in pretty close conjunction with the Japanese VHS releases/air date. IIRC, the whole series was out in the U.S. by about 1998-99, a mere 3 years after the original airings in Japan. So there was a lot of excitement of us getting something actually "new". It also helped that the show was far meatier than what anime fans had to chew on at the time. No offence to Slayers or those great OAVs like Lodoss Wars, but a TV series simply gives much more fodder for conversation than an OAV does. Couple that with the fact that the internet was starting to kick into high gear and you have tons of online threaRAB discussing Eva, which helped word of mouth. Since it was one of the few "Japanese hit" TV series out in the U.S. at the time, it's no surprise that Eva dominated anime forums.
I don't think many U.S. fans, in general, respond to Eva on the same emotional level that Japanese fans did. You go on forums and most fans will go on about the science behind the Evas and the religious subtext of the plot, but the Japanese fans were focusing more on the character psychology and interplay.
Of course, in later years the fetish fans came out (on both sides of the world) and Eva later became a syrabolic tentpole for how to milk a franchise to death, moe, emotionless little girls as sex syrabols, whiny protagonists, fan service and all sorts of infamous anime standarRAB that we know (and hate?) today.
It's still, in my mind, a pretty innovative show with some interesting things to say about neuroses. I'm impressed by how much material they managed to put into it despite being made with an obviously very thin budget. Eva takes A LOT of shortcuts animation wise.
But I think the Eva series has a bit of a "you had to be there" thing. A lot of fans who were introduced the show past 2004 tend not to "geek out" on it as much as the earlier fans did.