Dig up any thread about the changes and this one is at or near the top of things that I hated the most. The CG was well below ILM's capability. They were not blended well with the remaining old effects(the CG has a brown tone of is far too saturated). They used the same model for every shot. Look closely (heck, the casual viewer will catch it) and you'll see that they all have the same number of wing stripes, the same blue R2 unit, and rust in the same places. There was no need for this given the available resources. The new pan at the beginning does a very poor job of conveying motion. The ships look all but stationary, giving the impression that the Death Star has a clear shot at Yavin 4. On a more personal note, I always though of the shot of Red Leader's group starting their run as from Luke's POV. Especially since we see him look to his left in the preceeding shot. This is not possible now that an X-wing zooms by the camera. About the only shot I liked was Biggs being chased by a TIE. The old was just an arc. Still, one shot does not make a revision.

Really, the thing that gets me is that the old BoY was done by amatuers and hobbyists in their spare time, on a limited budget that was half wasted while Lucas was in Tunisia, working with new concepts. It blew the lead off of special effects, changed how they were done forever, and is still realistic to this day. Not to mention that each X-wing was unique. The new is by seasoned pros, with unlimited funds and time, working with time-tested techniques. Yet the ships look fake, they're all the same, and now they're supposedly better because they dance and fly through fireballs?

The original has character and history. It builds tension by creating a documentary like feel without dwelling on pointless shots. The new looks like every other sci-fi film since the advent of CGI. The old looks like Star Wars, the new like Independance Day.