Agree. His work was extraordinary. I saw some of his stuff as a kid. Always impressed me.

RIP. He was a genius and a true innovator.

Harryhausen was quite simply a consummate movie craftsman; every frame he produced painstakingly manipulated by-hand, sometimes requiring months to create just a few minutes' worth of footage. Sure, it's charmingly herky-jerky compared to the smooth, seamless ultra-realism of modern CGI, but at the same time it was far more inspiring to kids who were rabid to emulate his stop-motion artistry.

There's a great documentary "The Sci-Fi Boys", currently available on Netflix, that I highly recommend for those not familiar with Harryhausen's work, as it provides not only dozens of examples of his creative output, but is a wonderful testament to how influential his work has been on more contemporary genre filmmakers.

Thanks for all the thrills & chills, Harry - and say "Boo!" to Uncle Forry for us, will you?

Harryhausen was a genius pioneer whose acclaim is richly deserved, and it is well that we mourn his passing.

This, though:

… I've yet to see a digital monster that impresses me the way a good Harryhausen creature impresses me.

strikes me as rank sentimentality.

Sure, there is plenty of crap CGI creature work out there, just as there was plenty of crap stop-motion and optical effects work by Harryhausen wannabes back in the day. Effects have in fact progressed, though, and the work of serious CGI artists has long since surpassed the best of the stop-motion and miniature-model era.

The skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts are still amazing, though.

COMTE @3, thanks for the Netflix recommendation.

See? Dinosaurs and cavemen DID coexist! They DID!

@6:

What about dinosaurs and cowboys? They co-existed too, at least in one place!

jason and the argonauts was his masterpiece, although i am quite fond of clash of the titans. RIP, cinematic genius.

One of my idols. RIP, Ray.

Sad

I (and several hundred others) got to meet him in Bellingham several years ago.