10 Amazing Practical Movie Effects Shots Everybody Assumed Were CGI

2. The Dying Arquillian - Men In Black

The House With A Clock In Its Walls Jack Black
Columbia Pictures

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?

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.