Yes, the miniatures in the PT is something that’s well-known. It’s just that they piled so much CGI on top of them that they might as well be CG themselves… and doesn’t really effect the many, many scenes where actors had nothing to interact with or look at but green or blue.
I’m not disagreeing, but how is that any different than just about every Marvel movie, or blockbuster in general made in the past five years? If we’re only talking about effects, isn’t it a bit asinine to complain endlessly about Prequel blue screening and then pay it no mind in just about every other modern film? You could argue it looks better now, but if it didn’t look better a decade later I’d be worried.
Plenty of the OT’s effects look rubbish by today’s standards (ROTJ sail barge scene springs to mind), but they’re hardly a case for blue screen being bad, as they shouldn’t be.