They are old hat as the leads in the shows. We are long past the mouth gaping way we were when we first saw AA's. Incorporating them along with screens is a good idea... thinking that they can carry the load anymore is head in the sand thinking. March into the 21st century... things have changed. Screens are, at least, the immediate future. Might as well accept it and enjoy the show. They are doing some really good ones with those evil screens.
I never said screens were evil. They're not. But if I wanted to stare at a screen all day instead of be0ing transported to a new physical reality, I can pop down to the local multiplex for $20 instead of plopping down the much larger sum it takes to travel to a theme park.
Besides, the best attractions never did leave it to animatronics to "carry the load". Pirates also has a fun ride system, expansive sets, great special effects and a catchy song, all of which are an easy sell on their own. But let's not pretend the enourmous cast of raucous pirates do nothing to put the ride over the top. They are the icing and then some. Not even just because of the technology -- convincing or otherwise, they're used to create brilliantly designed visual gags, many of which allow for the hokiness of their machinery to be given a pass.
It's just disappointing when I'm asked to believe an attraction that is essentially a Movie+ experience is the best that can be done, when Disney built it's there park empire on aspiring to much more than a projector and some extras. Especially when the technology pops up in the real world with more frequency than ever. If I'm paying premium prices, I want to see something I can't see anywhere else in the world.
Screens work best when they are an element of the larger illusion that is the attraction, when they are tasked with heightening your ability to believe what is being seen in front of you. When they are all of or the majority of what is being seen in front of you there is very little illusion, very little convincing to be done. Madame Leota is essentially a screen, and for a long while people were dumbfounded as to how she was achieved. She still stands as a very successful screen effect. But I can't think of a moment on Star Tours, Forbidden Journey, Body Wars, Gringotts -- any screen attraction I've been on where I was convinced what I was seeing wasn't a screen. Whereas the best animatronics either are convincing enough to make you question if a "robot" can really do what this thing in front of you is doing (Na'avi Shaman, Lincoln at Disneyland) or are used in such a way that the illusion of reality is not integral to the success of the scene (the gags in the Graveyard at the Haunted Mansion need not realistic animatronics to succeed in their use of them). Your jaw need not drop at the simulation of life for an animatronic to be successful, though Disney has shown time and again it is capable of such feats.
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