"Post No. 512"

Watched a couple more recent flicks, "The Golden Compass", and "10,000 B.C.".

You know..., had these movies been capable of being produced as they are say, 25 years ago, they'd been hailed as some of the finest achievements in films, even far above what the original "Star Wars" was in its ground-breaking special effects...but---

Here in this day and age of special effects being common place (and, yes, perhaps I'm just being a bit jaded by saying this), these flicks seem to be nothing really special or memorable.

It's not like the special effects weren't excellant in each of these movies. In "10,000 B.C.", we could believe the Woolly Mammoths, Smilodons and other gigantic prehistoric animals, and the pyramids and costuming, etc., etc. looked great. In "The Golden Compass", as well, all of these computer-generated effects appeared believable. But now we've all come to expect that in every new film which deals with fantasy adventure.

Much the same way we now expect that highest of quality in every animated film that's being produced. No longer are we the children of the 1960-70's that were happy with the rather clumsy animation of "Super Friends", or the low-tech effects of "Ultraman". It's not that we don't think still that these shows weren't classics of their times any less than we still think that such serials as "Flash Gordon" of "Captain Marvel" were just downright terrific. But. Compared to what can be achieved today, these products are primative.

Perhaps I would be much more impressed if Hollywood didn't use computers to make their special effects at all. Ray Harryhausen didn't use them in any movie he worked on, and they are all indeed classic films for the time and effort in which went into their production. The original 1933 "King Kong" didn't use them. "The Posiden Adventure" didn't use them. "Gone With The Wind", "The Ten Commandments", etc., etc., didn't use them. Why must film producers reply so heavily on them now?