While there are many movie critics out there that feel a certain nostalgia for the movies of their childhood before Computer Generated Images (CGI), and compare the 90’s Teen Mutant Ninja Turtles with the new recent blockbuster version of TMNT, we feel that the CGI technology does not get enough credit.

Sure, I am old enough to remember Godzilla and the original King Kong , but while I enjoyed those as a kid, not knowing any better, I doubt I would now.

The movie industry started to change with Steven Spielberg. When “We’re going to need a bigger boat!” inJaws meant “we are going to need bigger movies”, and “bigger is better” became the new concept and business model in Hollywood.

After being awed by Jurassic Park in 1993,I was completely blown away by Avatar and, judging by the applause at the end of the movie, I was not alone and who didn’t love watching a car transform into Optimus Prime in Transformers?

Optimus Prime

As correctly stated by IO9.

“Our old friend Gollum would have just been an emaciated man covered in pounds of makeup to try and capture a fraction of his CGI creepiness.”

And

“Smaug and The Hobbit would never have been made outside of a full-on cartoon, and the actors in Lord of the Rings’ series would never have been able to get the Oscar attention they did without all the awesome CGI armies drawing in hordes of fans.”

Andy Serkis as Gollum in The Hobbit trilogy

There are still problems with using CGI, but it is one of the best new tools filmmakers have. There is a long way to go, but it has the potential to get better and cheaper with every new movie made. Without it, we would not be able to look forward to Marvel and DC comics of our childhood making it to the big screen in the near future.

After all, movies are supposed to entertain and take you to a different place for a little while.

So the next time you see a movie with a lot of special effects and use of CGI in it, besides crediting the actors for their performances, also think of the artists and the animators behind the scenes who made the movie possible.

[Image via Warner Bros.]