Year: 1993

Significance: First physically textured CGI

Empire voted Jurassic Park’s first glimpse of those ginormous, tree-munching Brachiosauri as its 27th most magical moment in cinema history. It was a breathtaking reveal: physically textured dinosaurs so realistic it felt like they might come pounding out of the screen. Again, Lucasfilm’s ILM division provided the Oscar-winning visual effects wizardry. The CGI was bleeding edge, but the studio also used a smorgasboard of physical effects on the movie: of 14 minutes of dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, only four minutes were entirely computer generated. Along with the CGI, animatronics and stop-motioned miniatures were used to create the thunderous Gallimimus stampede, and a computer-generated stunt double created for the first time (he was munched by the animatronic T-Rex). Perhaps the movie’s effects DNA – Lucas’ CGI mingling with stop-motion of the kind pioneered by Ray Harryhausen and the animatronics Stan Winston helped developed – explains why Jurassic Park remains magical to this day.