Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is now a key part of the magic of cinema. The history of CGI contains some special moments and some truly awful ones. Here are five of the best and five of the worst.
The Good
The Matrix: Bullet time
‘The Matrix’ invented its own form of CGI – ‘bullet time’ – that’s been endlessly parodied and just plain copied ever since. The Christ-like parable of Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, redefined science-fiction films. The scene where he slows down time to dodge Agent Smith’s bullets at their first encounter set a new bar for special effects in movies.
Mind-blowing… ‘bullet-time’ magic from ‘The Matrix’ (Credit: Rex Features)
Jurassic Park: Welcome to Jurassic Park
It’s not the most dramatic scene in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 dinosaur movie, but Sam Neill’s wide-eyed amazement seeing his first Brontosauri mirrors that of the audiences of the day. For the first time, humans could realistically imagine what it would look like if dinosaurs still roamed the earth.
Gladiator: Oliver Reed’s posthumous scenes
That an actor can go on to finish his unfilmed scenes after his death is remarkable. That they run seamless into the film is even more so. Following the death of hard-drinking Oliver Reed mid-production, director Ridley Scott used special effects to attach Reed’s head to a body double during editing. He also uses stunning digital recreations of Rome’s Colosseum.
Inception: Folding Paris
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ owed a great debt to ‘The Matrix’ for both its ideas and its visuals. But when Ellen Page folds the Paris cityscape over on itself using the power of her mind it is a sight to impress even the most CGI-jaded eyes.
Where to look?… Inception (Credit: Warner Bros.)
Toy Story 1, 2 and 3: All of them
It’s probably cheating to include three full-length feature films in a list of great CGI scenes, but how could ‘Toy Story’ not feature somewhere? The animators succeeded in creating lovable characters filled with personality. This combined with great storytelling that continued through both sequels. CGI might not be where it is today if ‘Toy Story’ hadn’t proved how well it can be done.
The Bad
The Matrix Reloaded: Neo vs. Agent Smiths
As good as ‘The Matrix’ was, its sequels were terrible. Silly and pretentious, the CGI scenes couldn’t save them, and in fact only made them more ridiculous. Neo’s fight with multiple Agent Smiths, flying around like ragdolls, is among the many low points.
Star Wars Episodes II and III: Yoda fights
Jar Jar Binks is the more obvious choice of appalling Star Wars CGI, but if it’s possible, Yoda is worse. As a little plastic puppet waddling through a swamp in the original ‘Star Wars’, Yoda is weird-looking but also wise. In the prequels made 25 years later, he loses all his authority as he somersaults across the screen, bouncing around like a wrinkled bag of green jelly.
Green eyed-monster… Yoda fight scenes just looked odd (Credit: LucasArts)
Garfield: Any scene featuring Garfield
In Jim Davis’s cartoon strips, Garfield is obnoxious but endearing. The talking ginger cat’s big screen break obviously went to his head, because in CGI he loses all redeeming features. It’s a risk to have a computer-generated lead character in a live action film, and even the voice of Bill Murray can’t inject him with any personality.
The Mummy Returns: The Scorpion King
Umm, what the hell is this?! Ray Harryhausen’s ‘Clash of the Titans’ claymation is more convincing than The Scorpion King in this ‘Mummy’ Sequel. That’s supposed to be The Rock by the way.
Horrifying… this is supposed to be The Rock (Credit: Universal)
Die Another Day: Glacier surfing
Along with the invisible car and that ice palace, this terrible scene proved James Bond had (temporarily) lost it. The waves were clearly digitally produced and Pierce Brosnan was green-screened in. Awful.
There’s loads more examples of stand-out CGI in Hollywood flicks, both good and bad, so please let us know your suggestions below…
Source : Yahoo Movies
