They said "shallow and uninspired" but that's separate from "requires immense skill and patience". The point is, whether or not the process is cool and impressive, is the end product really very interesting?

It can be valid to criticize something as uninspired even if you're not capable of doing it yourself. Movie critics would have a hard time otherwise.

In this case I wouldn't be quite as dismissive, personally. But if you've seen one, have you seen them all? Probably yes.