This was over 20 years ago. The frigging PS2 was “photorealistic” by the standards of the day. And for as shitty as the movie was narratively, it was visually MANY steps beyond that.
Saying it failed because it was not modern technology would be like arguing that early film should have failed because it was filmed at 16 FPS whereas now we can have full 60 FPS hobbit action.
There were plenty of reasons ranging from it being “sci-fi” at a time when that was a death sentence, the movie being a complete flop, and “Mulan” not being a leading lady because she was Asian. But folk lost their mind at how “realistic” whatsherface’s model was.
Which, tinfoil hat, is why I suspect Villeneuve and the like keep getting the budget to do those completely spectacular sci-fi films with the top stars of the day.