Regarding George Lucas, I agree with you that the first trilogy told a solid story and became almost myth-like. The follow-ups still bother me because they relied more on pyrotechnics than storytelling, with the exception of the scene where Anakin burns into Darth Vader. Still, all of those cars and technology? My son likes to tell me that the prequel world had more technology, but I'm still not convinced! Anyway, I agree we all are critics until we have to take pen to paper. Then we become our worst critic and never get anything done!
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I agree that Lucas got a little too enamored with the CGI. Probably can't blame him, though, since all of the modeling and stop motion he had to do in the day. A few post production things were available, but not a whole lot. It must have felt like a miracle. :) But you're right, when special effects start to drown out the story, there are issues.
I think one of the best movies I've seen where CGI or even green screen is used is Forrest Gump. It's fairly seamless, but without it, the storytelling wouldn't have been the same.
Unfortunately, the Star Wars prequels suffer from the audience already knowing how villainous Vader was, so seeing him as a normal kid that turns into a whiny young man wasn't exactly the expectation. In trying to make him a sympathetic character, Lucas didn't really go far enough.