This Three Minute Video Shows The Astounding Evolution Of Visual Effects Over The Last 100+ Years

If you go see "Godzilla" this weekend, you'll likely be blown away by how scary-real the 355-foot monster looks.

But the road to creating that giant lizard was a long one. YouTube user Jim Casey pieced together an amazing three minute video that highlights some pivotal scenes showing the evolution of visual effects over the last 100+ years.

Check out some of the earliest film effects:

The video starts with a nod to the motion photography of Eadweard Muybridge. His series of photographs of a running horse proved the idea that during its gait, all four of the horse's hooves were off the ground at once:

In 1896, Georges Melies stopped his camera in order to create the illusion of making a women disappear:

This clip from 1900 was simply called "The Railway Collision."

"The Thief in Bagdad" came out in 1924 - note the fast cut to show the second jump:

This is a scene from Fritz Lang's 1927 classic dystopian film, "Metropolis."

The "Invisible Man" un-wrapped himself in 1933:

In 1939, "The Wizard of Oz" made a splash for its use of Technicolor and the flying monkeys:

This giant was far less complex than today's movie monsters:

This is a scene from the 1953 science fiction film "War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells:

In the 1956 movie "The Ten Commandments," viewers were blown away when Moses parted the Red Sea:

This clip shows a metamorphosis scene from 1981's "An American Werewolf in London."

After this, the effects start moving too fast to get a good capture, but the rest of the hypnotic video is totally worth a watch:

(Hat-tip to The Verge where we first saw this video.)