I firmly agree that there should be a mix of both.. whatever gets the job done most effectively! I think Lord of the Rings mixed both really well - most of the time I have trouble telling real from fake.. which is how it should be. I gave up in the end and just enjoyed being transported into another world for three+ hours. I watched AOTC again two nights ago (NEVER again BTW!!) - the CGI is waaayyyy too obvious, expecially during the first half of the film - alot of it just looks too 'clean' and seems 'flat'. It's blatently showing off! The scene were Yoda, Ben and Mace are walking along and talking in that great hall is atrocious! Look at their feet... Alot of the battle scenes at the end are great however, it's just a pity they fall flat as there's no real tension created by the lack-lustre script.

If you mix the two, and only use it when necessary, it creates the right 'feel'. It's similar to an painter trying to create a pleasing balance in his/her work. Throwing CGI at an audience ALL the way through a film just turns it into a sophisticated cartoon, alienating the audience on some inner level, which is what I feel the prequals do. CGI is NOT perfect. It IS clean, but far from perfect! I still prefer a real location wherever possible, because it is REAL! Some people here feel that CGI is the answer to all a film-makers problems. WRONG! It's just a tool, and it's stil being developed! See how much of The Special Edition CGI looks dated already now? I think the real challenge is keeping CGI out of the picture unless it's absolutely necessary. I still prefer most of the effects in the original trilogy. Whilst the PRESENTATION of these effects might look dated i.e. film dirt, boxes aroud ships, black lines around objects etc etc, I still feel that they hold their own. With computer technology all these 70's/80's era flaws can be removed, leaving the wonderful effects looking better than ever. I'm very curious to see how they clean up some of the (few) remaining effects scenes in the new DVD's. I'm still hoping Lucas might relent and give us the originals as well though... Knowing Lucas he's just winding us up anyway, knowing many are spending ALOT of time making the laserdisc copies look just right... then he'll go and release the legit versions!! Doh!!!