Subtly Brilliant

okay idc if this is the hill i die on but once again project hail mary is a great example of why practical effects will always beat out cgi. rocky is a puppet and i highly suspect if he had been a pure CGI little rock alien audiences would not be nearly as endeared to him as they are. its the same effect with baby yoda/grogu. once again a puppet, it doesnt have the uncanny valley or computerized feel, its something real and tangible and audiences can see that, the actors can actually interact with it (ik grace cant actually touch rocky cuz atmospheres but its virtually obvious that grace and rocky are on the same physical plane of existence and can interact with the world and objects in the same way) like this is why i can always tell when studios care about movies beyond making money cuz cgi is cheaper but it just looks so fake everytime. think about how real the first jurassic park dino’s looked compared to the newer ones. idk im rambling but im so glad rocky was a puppet for this movie, i dont think id be as enamored by him and the movie if i knew it was just something they edited in with grace