@ S_Matt: Man, I seriously cringe whenever I read one of your posts in this topic.
We want the live action cinematographer's work to be seen unimpeded by dirt or other artifacts.
Yeah, dirt and other artefacts that weren't originally present - that's what restoration means, to get it as close to the way it originally looked as possible and that includes the special effects. A reasonable and careful digital clean-up (such as the one Richard Harris did on the Godfather) and digital recompositing ain't the same f*cking ball park. It ain't the same league. It ain't even the same f*cking sport.