The new CGI Yoda: Better than the puppet?

The video: Has Yoda had some work done on his famously craggy face? Yes, in a sense: Twelve years after Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace debuted in theaters, the Jedi master has received a digital makeover. For the film's upcoming Blu-Ray release, the puppet that was voiced and operated by the legendary Frank Oz has been replaced by a CGI version — much like the Yoda that debuted as a nimble light-saber duelist in 2002's Attack of the Clones. Lucas, famous for tinkering with the Star Wars films, controversially inserted modern effects into the original trilogy for their Special Edition DVD release. But is tampering with the wise green master going too far? (Watch a side-by-side comparison of the two Yodas below.) So far, Lucas has no plans to replace the Yoda puppet in the original trilogy.

The reaction: Looking good, says Nathan Adams at Film School Rejects. While the CGI characters and effects that Lucas shoved into the original trilogy were "haphazardly inserted," this update makes sense. Puppet Yoda was one of the few physical props in Phantom Menace, which made his appearance "jarring in the world of computer-generated things." But has Lucas gone a bit Joan Rivers on us? wonders William Bibbiani at Crave Online. Yoda has been "de-aged a bit too much." His new brownish hair looks a bit peculiar on the 900-year-old green alien. Have a look:

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