My friend and I were having a conversation about just that the other day, too - touching on the notion that ILMers have a deluded view that they are the world's very best at what they do, and no one can approach them. It certainly isn't the case, and there's a lot of eager folks that can trounce them given the opportunity. Not that I don' think ILM isn't full of talented guys, but I think their company's culture and reclusive location blinds them to a sense of competitiveness that they need to have.
Its evident in most of the interviews you see (most recently the Rob Coleman part of 60 Minutes) down to side conversations I've had with voiceover folks who say similar things about Skywalker's sound guys.
They certainly need a swift kick in their pants by direct comparisons to the work done in movies like LOTR. Its a nice dose of reality I don't think they get too often. Again, I'm not talking **** about them, but feel they needed to have someone nip at their heels and get their quality output up. There's a big difference in the amount of thought and functional thinking that seems to have gone into the composition of ROTS's effects shots (and designs) that was lacking before, and I think we have LOTR to thank for it. Competition is indeed a healthy thing, it seems.
PS: The fact that Doug "Round Anime horse****" Chiang is nowhere near the place makes a world of difference, too, I think. I hate that guy's work and feel its craptitude must be pointed out at every opportunity.
