CGI: The Next Big Thing or the Downfall of Hollywood

By Jonathan Goodsell
So anyone that looks back over the years can see the huge transformation Hollywood has made. More and more movies are coming out where most of the images, and sometimes characters, are CGI (computer generated images). It's hard to find a movie now days that doesn't have a huge action sequence of destruction of some form that's not the main focus of the movie. Michael Bay is good example of taking it to the extreme. Sometimes you get huge hits that work. James Cameron's Avatar is a great example of this. The plot was extremely lacking as it was just Pocahontas with aliens. But the use of CGI was stunning and broke a new path in film pioneering. The new film Avengers could also be considered an example of CGI success. But if you look at the box office lately, you can easily see how rare these hits are. Take John Carter, Disney's attempted blockbuster for the year. It did so terribly in the box office, that Disney lost all profits made this year. You can also look at the new show Battleship, the alien invasion movie with a naval force as the hero. It bombed.
Now the question is, why? I believe it to be that they depend so much on such huge effects, they forget the important items like the plot, the acting and casting, and the script. There have been tons of hits that are just stories with real acting and stories that you can relate to. Even if it's not a hit, the movies that people often love the most are the down to earth ones. If they can relate to the plot, you've got them hooked. If the acting is good and the humor fresh, you aced it. So why don't directors focus more on the details today? If it works, why not do more of it instead of drifting towards a computer animated world.
Even actors are upset with the drift. Meryl Streep, hit actress and Academy Award winner, recently spoke out against the studios. She mentioned how she had been in several hits in the recent years: The Iron Lady, Julie and Julia, The Devil Wears Prada, and Mamma Mia!. All of these have been decent hits, bringing back good money to their studio. She criticizes saying "Let's talk about 'The Iron Lady.' It cost 14$ million to make it and brought in 114$ million. Pure profit! So why? Why? Don't they want the money? Why is it so hard to get these movies made?" So why don't studios do it. That's a 8x return for The Iron Lady. Much more than these huge CGI hits are doing.
So I don't know, maybe i'm old fashioned, but I think it's ridiculous. Movies have come a long way, but along the path have lost a lot of luggage. They just don't make them like they used to. Now i'm not saying CGI isn't always bad. Sometimes, in order to make a cool action sequence, you need a little special effects, and those i'm willing to look past. But give me a good plot, at least half decent acting, and some good humor,  and i'll take it over CGI any day.