"Effects" are becoming more seamless and just blended right into the movie. It's like being desensitized to violence. A lot of movies employ some really sophisticated animation so well integrated into the movie a lot of people don't even realize they're effects shots.

For instance, did you ever see any previews for Hoodwinked? The first thing I thought when I saw the trailer was, OMG, the animation and modelling are totally sub-par for a feature film. Granted, the animators could have been going for that low-tech video game look, but it wasn't obvious enough - such as with the way South Park or Bromwell High are animated for instance.

For King Kong, I thought the effects were decent and worked well with the picture, but I didnt' give them much thought or special attention. Which I hope was the point. Some people commented they looked "cheezy" or cheap. I didn't notice anyone raving about them being good.

George Lucas and a bunch of others tried to rally up some publicity for the last three Star Wars by talking about all the effects shots. Well, they didn't make the movies any better. And so many were so poorly executed they were painful to watch. All in all I don't think they were as groundbreaking or even as well done as movies that both came before and after them.