10 Amazing Practical Movie Effects Shots Everybody Assumed Were CGI

2. The Dying Arquillian - Men In Black

Despite being almost 25 years old, the original Men in Black has aged like a fine wine, in large part due to its smart combination of CGI and practical effects.

You'll surely remember the fantastic sequence where J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) visit the morgue and speak to a dying Arquillian alien that's been piloting a humanoid robot.

The little alien creature is so fantastically expressive that it suggests the effect was achieved through well-aged CGI, but incredibly, the tiny guy was a purely animatronic creation.

Oscar-winning special effects wizard Rick Baker was tasked with creating two animatronic versions of the alien - a smaller version for medium shots, and a larger version for close-ups.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld cuts between the two models seamlessly, but most impressively of all, the lip sync on the alien - one of tougher aspects of working with animatronics - is perfect.

So perfect, in fact, that we all believed it was CGI, right?