JP had animatronic giant dino robots. Only the big brontosaurus at the beginning was graphically put in with computer. While the technology used was way ahead of its time, at least the creatures for the most part were real objects on the set, which made it believable then and would make it believable today, too. That's what makes that movie one of the best ever. Even the best CG today can't really be believed to the naked eye, cause they can never seem to get the look of natural light and coloring just right, despite the amount of detail put in. The worst part of the Hobbit series is the Pale Orc. They did a terrible job with him.. just looks like a creature out of a video game cutscene. Definitely makes him less frightening, too. Even the goblins and orcs in the LOTR with actors in suits with their cheesy lines and little british accents were far more creepy.. Can't beat a real thing. I really think Jackson could have used actors for the orcs again. Really cheap and unnecessary of him to go this way when it worked great the first time.
All that aside, I'm excited for this entry. I'm gonna try and put my nit picking over the visuals aside this time and just enjoy it. Seeing it in 48 fps again, which was really cool (although a bit strange) last time. It brings out the sets vs real environments more than the standard frame rate, but it's an experience nonetheless.
Cumberbatch, Lily, Bloom and Evans should make this one more exciting, if nothing else.
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