If we compare the best of then to the best of today, it is clear that when something is done in camera as a practical effect, whether then or now, the result is usually superior than if added during post production. Take Dune: Part Two as a proxy for the best of today, having won Best Visual Effects at the 97th Oscars. Most of the time, it looks startlingly real because of Villeneuve's extensive practical shooting in the desert, even the iconic collapse of the sand dune when Paul first rides the worm, but long-distance shots of armies tend to look fake owing to CGI multiplying, judging from my eyes.
The Hayvenhurst chase in Terminator 2 looks real because much of it was: the truck; the landing of the Harley-Davidson; stunt doubles; Arnold even trained in the use of reloading the custom shotgun. When something is caught in camera, like that, it is very hard to rival with CGI. Independence Day used a scale model of the White House to explosive effect. Much of Titanic looks real because of how much of the ship was re-built to 90% scale; the vertical sequence was done vertically; the sets were flooded; the underwater footage was of the actual wreck and aged scale models. Modern instances are the Los Alamos test in Oppenheimer. (When CGI must be used, use restraint or verisimilitude, such as Gargantua's being rendered using Einstein's equations but touched up artistically.)
