agreed. I liked them as well. Though probably heresy, the Sci-Fi series of the first two books were how I got into Dune.
I went on to read all the Frank Herbert written Dune books and I still like the Sci-Fi series.
I went on to read all the Frank Herbert written Dune books and I still like the Sci-Fi series.
There was very little CGI in the movie. Seriously real sets and some absolutely massive and impressive ones at that. All of the interiors of the palaces on Arrakis? Wow.
The backdrops weren't CGI either, nor were they Matte paintings. They used Translights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translight which are basically gigantic sheets of plastic that hang behind the sets meaning the actors actually got to stand on real sets and actually see the world around them and I think it showed in the quality of the acting. Actors don't act well when they aren't able to immerse themselves in the world they are pretending to be in. Watch the LOTR making-of documentary where Andy Serkis explains how he basically inserted himself into parts of filming that Peter Jackson didn't think a Voice/Motion-Cap actor needed to be involved in (not that Jackson objected, he embraced the ideas, but just didn't realize it at first).
Speaking of the acting, I hear a lot of people complain about Alec Newman, calling his character "wooden". Hard tasks need hard ways and hard ways need hard people. I think he nailed it.