I'm gonna break from the herd and state that I think the matte lines should be removed.
I don't think they were visible in theaters. (Theater images can afford to be dim since they are shown in the dark.) I can't believe the matte lines would have gotten the thumbs up if they were visible, since they are such an eyesore.
It was only in the home video releases that we started seeing matte lines. The TV image is brighter to compete with a bright room.
Does anyone remember seeing matte lines when the SE was shown in theaters? I don't. But we know from the 04 DVDs (based on the SE negatives) that they were still there.