I see that type of processing as the BOV's of the photography world. It has it's place, but typically is done when not needed, or overdone and looks cheap and cartoonish.

 

This was done with HDR processing.

I also have a composite, which was two images - one exposed for the valley, one exposed for the sun - I layered them, then erased the layer I didn't want - then flattened the layers, and created the composite.