Star Wars: A New Hope was possibly one of the most influential science fiction films ever made. Years in the planning with dozens of rewrites of the script, Star Wars was always destined to be great because it had a powerful story, sympathetic but not necessarily virtuous heroes, terrifyingly evil villains, revolutionary special effects and a certain, indefinable sense of wonder. Which is why it didn't need to be tarted up with CGI. Sure, the restoration was a joy; the print gleamed and the sound was spectacular, but the addition of extra scenes, jubilant jawa's and a formerly prohibitively expensive Jabba the Hut, created in no time by the miracles of modern technology, detracted from the work's force (if you will), which was that it was a Ripping Yarn of the very best sort.
The Empire Strikes Back however, did benefit from it's restoration. It was the transitional film, where the "action" climax occurred at the beginning and the ending contained one of the most exciting revelations in cinema history, yet left everything so painfully and unsatisfactorily unresolved. It is rare to see this in any film, particularly one that was guaranteed commercial success, but it is because of this that it remains the most powerful of the trilogy.
Return of the Jedi never had the impact of it's predecessors. It was the film where everything was resolved for good and although well made, it never captured the dark hopelessness of the former two at any time. This was not helped by the Ewoks who were just too damned cute for the film's good. Adding extra minutes of "family entertainment" into the restoration was the final insult.
Still, it was wonderful to have the opportunity to see the films on the big screen once more, and they were introduced to a new generation, which can't be a bad thing. It also conveniently sets the publicity machine moving for the three long awaited prequels which are currently in production...
One further nagging doubt, if these are 'The complete Star Wars available to see for one last time' then what became of poor old Biggs? Sure he crops up briefly at the end of Star Wars but what of scenes on Tattoine?