Wait what? He actually altered American Graffiti with CGI? I don’t recall seeing any gungans running around that movie. Looked pretty normal to me.
IIRC, the director’s cut also features extended/alternate/additional scenes not present in the theatrical version. I’ve never watched the theatrical version, though, so I don’t know how correct this is.
If that’s the only change then I’m absolutely fine with it. Sure it might be better for the sake of preservation to include the unaltered shot as an option, but if you’re really that interested you can see it right there. The lower shot is definitely vastly superior, CGI or not.
And as for extra scenes, well, I’ve never seen the theatrical so I can’t say for certain if they were detrimental or not. But if they were added in the late 70’s when George still had his marbles, and if they were originally only cut by the studio for time purposes because they didn’t trust George fully pre-SW as with THX, then I’m sure they’re fine.
I’ve only seen the movie once though. It was good but I would hardly say I’m a fan of it the way I am Star Wars, and clearly that is the case for most others. So even if there were significant changes, they would not attract as much attention or be as important to me or most other people.
Wouldn’t it be easier to have a character in the sequel die when they were supposed to, rather than alter the date given in the original movie though? 😉