I wasn't entirely happy with my first Castrum and Praetorium experience either. I watched all the cutscenes in Castrum, though I rushed through them to the point where I'm still not sure what exactly happened in there. In Praetorium I felt forced to skip everything and even then I was lagging behind as everyone rushed ahead. :/

Being on the other side now though the rushing doesn't bother me much anymore, but I'm fine with waiting when people watch cutscenes and I'll usually wait where they are for them to come out of it so they don't find themselves completely alone.