There was definitely some terrible weird looking CG from back in the day... but some of the examples were really well done and still hold up ok. There are some moments in Last Starfighter where you're like "ouch... flat shaded cg" but some other moments where it looks great. I think a chunk of the ship was also practical, but there were some detailed CG in it.
When movies used it for something that wasn't meant to look realistic, back before it was feasible, it still holds up ok. For a sci-fi spaceship or things like the vehicles in TRON, you don't get that weird uncanny valley feel as much IMO.