Does the Movie Only Seem Bad Now That It's 2012?

So is this film really bad or does it just seem really bad to people seeing it for the first time now that it's 2012?? When I saw it at eleven years-old back in 1995, I thought it was awesome. Never thought much more about it, but I mean, if all of you who have just seen it and hold a negative opinion of it saw it back in 1995, would you have been of the same opinion then as now?

I mean if you saw Jurassic Park now for the first time, you might find it a bit corny, at least special effects-wise, but back when it first came out, it was awesome (still is overall IMO).

Some of the things I have seen criticized about this film are Amy the gorilla, the killer gorillas jumping into the lava at the end, the balloon, the diamond-powered laser, and the killer hippos. The thing is, the critics seem to make out as if all of these are silly or fake. To which I say:

---regarding Amy, well this WAS 1995, they didn't really have the technology yet to make computer-generated gorillas that look 100% real. Also, minus the faces, they have gorilla costumes that a human can wear in which they can pretty much mimic a gorilla quite realistically. Thus far, I think the only film to use computer-generated gorillas was the recent Planet of the Apes movie (not the Mark Wahlberg one, I mean the most recent one).

---regarding the killer gorillas jumping into the lava, I always interperted it that it was because of the extreme heat from the lava. I mean lava is HOT. If you are within a few dozen feet of a river of lava, you're going to bake. It's not like you can just walk right up to it and if you fall in, you're gone, but otherwise, you're safe. The heat alone will get you a good ways before you could touch it. I think those gorillas were baking essentially and that's why they jumped in.

---regarding the balloon, is that really fake? The plane that crashed had a balloon on it, and they had no other way to escape, os they got the balloon out, inflated it, and were on their way. I don't think they were planning to float back to North America via the balloon, just get to a safe area where they could land.

---regarding the diamond-powered laser, what's fake there? There are lasers that can cut, well, DIAMONDS, so a laser that can kill people isn't a stretch. A laser that is that powerful that could be used like a rifle, yes, that's a stretch, but the film is supposed to be taking a few leaps on that one as it's supposed to be a special new laser developed.

---I haven't read the book yet, but someone once told me that the hippos attacking the boats were not in the book. Okay, but then I learned later on that that is not phony. If you go out onto a river in a small boat or raft, hippos are known to attack boats if they feel threatened.

I am going to watch this film again, after many years of having not seen it, to see how silly I find it from my "modern" movie perspective. One thing I DO agree with the critics on though (that I remember from having seen the film as a kid and that I thought was silly at the time) is the fact that the characters stay clean-looking throughout the film (in particular Laura Linney, even though they're in a jungle where you can't shower!).

EDIT: Okay, well I just sort of "speed-watched" through the film on Netflix, and the film came off as solid to me in certain aspects, but rather corny in other aspects. It does seem like a film that, by modern standards, could be Made-for-TV is the thing.