The problem, to me anyway, is that the prequels just don't look "real". There is way too much CGI going on in the backgrounds and it all just seems very cartoony and busy.

If you look at old-school movies, explosions were actually that - explosions. Nowadays they are computer-generated. Now don't get me wrong, a lot of CGI stuff looks absolutely amazing, but some, no matter how much they try, just doesn't. Look at the battle between the Trade Federation Droids and the Gungans. I can't be alone in not caring one whit about that because there were. No Actors. At. All involved in that battle. Just CGI. It's hard to care about people when the people aren't real, lol.

I'm not sure if I'm adequately expressing what I mean, but hopefully you guys understand. Anyways, just my opinion.

rym I understand what your saying.

Even the clone troopers were not lifelike. Due to poor CGI I think the movies were cartoony as you say.

CGI should of been for replacement of matte paintings and scenery in the distance as well as space battles. Everything else needed to be physical.

Even to the point of having a full CGI pilot costume or clone trooper with his helmet off and having the Temuera Morrisons head super imposed look ridiculous.

None of it believable and as you say the up shot of it is we don't care about CGI characters. Maybe it was too early to make CGI characters work.

Having said that Rocket and Groot in Guardians Of The Galaxy were great and looked real and were integrated into the movie well.

The problem, to me anyway, is that the prequels just don't look "real". There is way too much CGI going on in the backgrounds and it all just seems very cartoony and busy.

If you look at old-school movies, explosions were actually that - explosions. Nowadays they are computer-generated. Now don't get me wrong, a lot of CGI stuff looks absolutely amazing, but some, no matter how much they try, just doesn't. Look at the battle between the Trade Federation Droids and the Gungans. I can't be alone in not caring one whit about that because there were. No Actors. At. All involved in that battle. Just CGI. It's hard to care about people when the people aren't real, lol.

I'm not sure if I'm adequately expressing what I mean, but hopefully you guys understand. Anyways, just my opinion.

Gentlemen,

I see your point and completely agree.

However, we have to remember that this technology doesn't just spring out of the ground. It needs to be developed, evolved. Could you run when you first came from your mothers .. urrr ... she-parts? Nope, you had to crawl and walk first.

Lucas has done uncountable wonders in this field (along with Pixar and others), with developing, showcasing and promoting this tech. It's just a shame that he over relied on this tech which wasn't up to scratch yet .... that being said, the technology needed its stepping stones. Where better to play with it than in a fantastic space opera?

Gentlemen,

I see your point and completely agree.

However, we have to remember that this technology doesn't just spring out of the ground. It needs to be developed, evolved. Could you run when you first came from your mothers .. urrr ... she-parts? Nope, you had to crawl and walk first.

Lucas has done uncountable wonders in this field (along with Pixar and others), with developing, showcasing and promoting this tech. It's just a shame that he over relied on this tech which wasn't up to scratch yet .... that being said, the technology needed its stepping stones. Where better to play with it than in a fantastic space opera?

It worked for the original film with his ground breaking effects. It did not work with the prequel trilogy. I think it proves a point that building the actual sets and having animatronics and people in costumes is better than having CGI for everything.

The CGI should be used for non living things. Space ships and fill in for back grounds is the where it should be used.

I'm not sold at the moment that CGI should be used for living things yet.

Agreed.

At the moment it seems to work well for non-organic objects. I personally thought that the CGI in Transformers was good. In the new TMNT, it didn't convince me. We are dealing with humanoid moving objects in both examples.

Another challenge we face too is that CGI can take the 'camera' places where a conventional camera can't go. I don't think we, the audience, can unconsciously accept this yet. When the 'camera' follows a character on a ridiculous path through a very complex maneuver our sub-conscious says "That's not possible - must be nonsense!". I would use TMNT as an example again.

Agreed.

At the moment it seems to work well for non-organic objects. I personally thought that the CGI in Transformers was good. In the new TMNT, it didn't convince me. We are dealing with humanoid moving objects in both examples.

Another challenge we face too is that CGI can take the 'camera' places where a conventional camera can't go. I don't think we, the audience, can unconsciously accept this yet. When the 'camera' follows a character on a ridiculous path through a very complex maneuver our sub-conscious says "That's not possible - must be nonsense!". I would use TMNT as an example again.

Agreed 100%. We as the audience are sitting still in a chair watching a screen. The camera should not be pulling off its own stunts unless we are in a simulator. Panning left and right and up and down is fine as if we were moving our head. In the Episode VII shot of the Falcon the camera chase made me nauseous and I had no idea what path the Falcon was doing.

Now, take the first 13 minute scene from Zero Gravity (Bullock and Clooney flick). Hmm, Looks real enough but the camera is moving in places where it shouldn't go .. must be CG .. but it looks so real. How!? Must be wizardy.

A quick glance online and we can easily see the directors went to extraordinary lengths to film it. Yeah, the space was CG but the reflection of earth on their visors, the camera angles and movement were all legit. Well done sirs, we are truly amazed ... twice.

My thoughts on the prequels:

-Love the tech and the clones and the droids. Awesome stuff. People complain about "too much tech and not enough room for iconic ships like the X-Wing and TIEs". The Clone Wars were a time of escalation, trying to best their rivals in every possible way, so you'd see a new ship in every movie to reflect that.

-Hayden Christensen is a decent actor, I blame the scriptwriters for the absolutely crappy lines he spews. But other than that, he's got that menacing face and the ambitious voice ready to be transformed into the monstrosity that is Vader. I think people don't give enough credit there.

-The whole Padmé and Anakin thing was just weird.

-Darth Maul should've been the main bad boy until the episode III

-Qui-Gon should've lived until episode II where he would've died on Geonosis in the pit, just shy of the Jedi intervention. It would've been grim enough for everyone to understand that good guys die too, but would've given Obi enough time to pickup the torch.

-All of the throw ins from the OT such as Chewie, C-3PO and R2-D2 were just unnecessary.

-A scene where Palpatine slays Plagueis in episode I would've been awesome, we would have an idea of how real Palpatine's malice and manipulative agenda is when he gives his promise of power speech to Anakin in the opera house.

My thoughts on the prequels:

-Love the tech and the clones and the droids. Awesome stuff. People complain about "too much tech and not enough room for iconic ships like the X-Wing and TIEs". The Clone Wars were a time of escalation, trying to best their rivals in every possible way, so you'd see a new ship in every movie to reflect that.

-Hayden Christensen is a decent actor, I blame the scriptwriters for the absolutely crappy lines he spews. But other than that, he's got that menacing face and the ambitious voice ready to be transformed into the monstrosity that is Vader. I think people don't give enough credit there.

-The whole Padmé and Anakin thing was just weird.

-Darth Maul should've been the main bad boy until the episode III

-Qui-Gon should've lived until episode II where he would've died on Geonosis in the pit, just shy of the Jedi intervention. It would've been grim enough for everyone to understand that good guys die too, but would've given Obi enough time to pickup the torch.

-All of the throw ins from the OT such as Chewie, C-3PO and R2-D2 were just unnecessary.

-A scene where Palpatine slays Plagueis in episode I would've been awesome, we would have an idea of how real Palpatine's malice and manipulative agenda is when he gives his promise of power speech to Anakin in the opera house.

Whilst I agree with you on many points. I can't support the claims that Lloyd and Christensen's wooden acting was the fault of scriptwriters alone. The Director plays a huge roll in this too. But blame aside, the actors are themselves ACTORS! Their job is to read other people's lines and bring them to life through a believable character. That's their job, that's what they do.

I understand that the scriptwriters may have let him down. But recall the scene where Anakin tells Padme that he loves her, really loves her. There was zero emotion. Absolutely zero. Now think back to Ep5 where Leia tells Han she loves him before Han gets frozen in Carbonite. Same words (granted the scene was built to be more intense) .. and so much more emotion. She sold it, he failed.

I agree with the tie ins though. Not necessary. I'm glad they cut that scene in Ep1 where Anakin's friend fights with little Greedo.

And YES, Maul was build as a weapon. Palpatine had the brains. Remind you of anyone else? Vader was also a weapon who followed Palpatine's orders to the letter .. and he was a feared and awe-inspiring character in both the SW universe and our homes. They should have kept Maul for this reason. He was terrifying, and combined with Palpatine .. they were fantastic villains.

He also devalues the strength of the Sith by simply failing to achieve anything. I was frustrated at the random introduction of a new bad guy in each film. Where did they come from? "Always 2 there are, a master and an apprentice .. oh, and a bunch of other fellas that spring up when convenient." Ep1, kill Qui-gon, Maul rocks on .. now we know we have a force to be reckoned with.

There are countless other issues I have with the prequels but I'm sure they have all been covered by others elsewhere. I have tried really, really hard to like them and re-watched them again recently. I just can't get there though. They aren't even a pale shadow of the originals. .. rather an unwelcome stain the Star wars sheets.

Now, take the first 13 minute scene from Zero Gravity (Bullock and Clooney flick). Hmm, Looks real enough but the camera is moving in places where it shouldn't go .. must be CG .. but it looks so real. How!? Must be wizardy.

A quick glance online and we can easily see the directors went to extraordinary lengths to film it. Yeah, the space was CG but the reflection of earth on their visors, the camera angles and movement were all legit. Well done sirs, we are truly amazed ... twice.

And all of it non living. So mechanical things they can do well and environment but living things still look fake.