“...Special effects are still impressive and still look real. ...”
Good point! They do.
I still remember the old “Star Trek” series, where you could see the halo around the Enterprise as it moved through space. We’re a long way from primitive special effects.
My gram thought it was the coolest thing she’d ever seen up to that point. Glad I had the opportunity to take her to see it.
Hell, when she was a kid, movies were still SILENT and Black and white.
She’s gone now, in 1995. But she was an amazing gal, and she sure loved “her boy” (me - I was her only grandson).
Yes, they were models and puppets in the originals, but models and puppets are "real" physical things and look and behave like "real" physical things.
While No matter how good CGI gets, it will always basically be nothing more than just a cartoon.