I don't know about you but I think all special effects look somewhat fake,even guys in suits I know they are not real monsters so drawing a line with CGI don't make sense to me when something like The Birds with it's back projection that looked silly is considered a classic and I love The Birds,but no means of making special effects is going to be perfect and in the end it comes down to what works best for the time and money that you have.

You are right about lead times CGI artists work insane hours to get projects done on time and don't get nearly enough credit for all the hard work they do.

Oh and my reply was to the whole thread and it's "CGI is evil and always looks bad and every film maker who uses it is a bad person" tone and not to you.