The overused and bad CGI is the main issue with this prequel trilogy

No. The main problem with the prequel trilogy is that Anakin the central character is a whiny dumbass who gets duped into joining the Dark Side. Darth Vader is supposed to be COOL, man, not some useless kid with a low IQ, who's made a patsy by Palpatine!

There are a ton of other problems, so many that flaws with the special effects don't even make the top ten list.

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PS: Same for the horrible "Hobbit" films. There the terrible and overused special effects may make the top ten list of reasons they're so bad, but not the top five.

What's freaky is that the prequel trilogy uses more actual set pieces than the classic trilogy. The Phantom Menace had a TON of real set pieces. Heck, they even used Puppet Yoda until the Blu-Ray release.

Some terrible character choices and tons of horrible dialogue are much more impactful. If those things were fixed, the CGI would probably be a non-issue for the most part.

There are even practical effects in the original trilogy that were poor. Any effect can be done poorly. I don't completely "get" the obsession with practical effects obviously being real objects, due to the fact that I still know it's an effect and I still know it's all fake.

I'm all for the use of the best effect for any use. I don't like it when CGI is used when a practical would be more effective, but I also don't like it when slavish devotion to practical effects are used when CGI would have done it far better. There are obviously fewer examples of the latter, but Nolan has done it a few times.

I agree. Many of the set pieces were nice practical models or locations, but the aliens, troopers, etc. all look totally bogus.

I do think the CGI is one of the main problems. The OT didn't have spectacular scripts either. Another was making the canon much too complicated, even retconning things.

The overuse of CGI is definitely an issue. Lucas got old and lazy. He wanted to sit in his office and make his movies on a computer screen. He didn't want to build sets anymore and he didn't want to travel all over the world with a blockbuster size cast and crew.

The CGI and magnitude that is used was groundbreaking for the early 00's. However, I don't think Lucas realized how dated and cartoony it would look in the years to come or maybe he did and just shrugged it off as being dated is unavoidable. He also probably didn't think practical effects would make a return to popularity. We also have to remember in Lucas's experience the movies are made in post so many changes there so he probably said screw it lets makes the whole movie in post.

CGI is supposed to be a tool that can be used in filmmaking(like it is in JP starship troopers dragon heart) ... not a crutch like the prequels, hobbit, and 50%-75% of the movies made from 2000-2015.

Like most people say if Lucas had found a young hungry director for episode 2 and 3. Somebody who was willing be a diligent hardworking maniac in an effort to leave their mark. Along with a sharp writer to help him on the script side the prequels may have possibly rivaled the sequels.

I agree. In fairness, the over-reliance on CGI is just a general problem of that era. Nowadays it seems like they're realizing that a good mix of practical effects and CGI, with more practical, is the way to go. It's just because CGI was the shiny new toy they were all overexcited about playing with.

The terrible CGI is a problem, but the major issue are the atrocious screenplays.