Dr. Claus
Banned
Star Wars has a particular aesthetic, yes, and the Mandalorian got it right in a lot of episodes. I don't know enough about film to describe it, but to me the difference seems to stem from how content is produced nowadays. For comparison:
compared to:
To me, the AT ATs on Hoth look better even though I can tell they are miniatures or whatever. It isn't just the "money shots" though - it's the fact that they had to physically create like 90% of everything we see in the OT. It lends itself to a certain aesthetic you notice across every single frame. I think our brains subconsciously notice CGI especially when there are real life objects and people in the same scene. Even though a lot of the puppets/sets in the OT look bad by today's standards, they are actually real things.
It really depends on your preference. Do you prefer to notice puppets, matte paintings and sound stages? Or do you prefer to notice CGI? If you are an OT fan like me, you probably prefer the former.
Definitely see where you are coming from. even with the prequels having CGI, it still looked and felt like star wars. I am not sure that CGI itself is the issue. I think the problem is the directors. Rogue One was the closest we got to a star wars film feeling like classic star wars.