The advancement of computers changed the landscape of filmmaking. One of these was the development of computer-generated images, which have since supplanted hand-drawn animation and stop-motion as the means of creating landscapes and fantastical characters. As the years passed and technology improved, CGI can now create places and things that look almost real.
Unfortunately, the advancements in CGI also mean that films with older CGI look dated, which can be difficult to ignore. Other times, corners were cut or not as much time and dedication was put into the CGI, resulting in ugly and off-putting creations from day one.
10 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' (2001)
Directed by Chris Columbus
On his eleventh birthday, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) learns he is a wizard when he receives an invitation to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Everyone treats him as a celebrity because, when he was an infant, he somehow stopped the dark wizard Voldemort (Ian Hart). As Harry begins studying magic, he befriends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and gets wrapped up in a mystery regarding a treasure hidden in Hogwarts.
It's hard not to notice the flaws in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone's CGI when re-watching the Harry Potter films. Some parts hold up better than others, like the animated chess pieces, but anytime a human flies on broomsticks, they look like they're made out of clay. The worst example in the film has to be the troll, who looks like he was cut and pasted into the scene, especially when he's in the same shot as the kids.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- Release Date
- November 16, 2001
- Runtime
- 152 Minutes
- Director
- Chris Columbus
WHERE TO WATCH
An orphaned boy enrolls in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.
9 'Artemis Fowl' (2020)
Directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh
One day, Artemis Fowl Jr. (Ferdia Shaw) learns that his father, Artemis Fowl Sr. (Colin Farrell), has been kidnapped, and the kidnappers demand Artemis recover an artifact called the Aculos that his father allegedly stole. Accompanied by his butler and bodyguard, Domovoi Butler (Nonso Anozie), Artemis' journey to find the Aculos takes him deep beneath the earth, to a hidden world inhabited by mythical creatures. There, he meets Mulch (Josh Gad), a large dwarf, and Holly Short (Lara McDonnell), an elf officer that Artemis attempts to hold for ransom.
It's hard to believe that the effects for Artemis Fowl were done by Industrial Light & Magic, the same company that worked on Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and most Marvel films. It varies wildly in quality throughout the film, with the worst parts coming in during the action sequences or when Mulch stretches his mouth impossibly large. Coupled with how the film toned down Artemis' villainous side, it's little wonder why this is considered one of Disney's worst movies.
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Artemis Fowl
- Release Date
- June 12, 2020
- Runtime
- 115 Minutes
- Director
- Kenneth Branagh
Cast
-
-
Gerard Horan -
Judi Dench -
Adrian Scarborough
WHERE TO WATCH
8 'Beowulf' (2007)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
When King Hrothgar (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and his people celebrate the opening of a new mead hall, they awaken the wrath of the monstrous Grendel (Crispin Glover), who slaughters many of them in his rage. To deal with the beast, Hrothgar calls for Beowulf (Ray Winstone), a Geatish warrior who has built a reputation for himself as a monster slayer. Though Beowulf defeats Grendel, he is soon after confronted by Grendel's mother (Angelina Jolie) and a dark secret from Hrothgar's past.
Beowulf falls into the same trappings as all of Robert Zemeckis' motion capture films in that the models evoke a strong case of uncanny valley. Though the character's faces and movements are lifelike, their bodies feel weightless, and their skin looks like plastic unless covered in grime or caught in the right lighting. The worst of the animation comes during the action scenes, where the blood looks like a thick jam.
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Beowulf
- Release Date
- November 5, 2007
- Runtime
- 115minutes
- Director
- Robert Zemeckis
WHERE TO WATCH
7 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2' (2012)
Directed by Bill Condon
Bella (Kristen Stewart) awakens to her new life as a vampire with her husband, Edward (Mackenzie Foy), and their half-vampire Renesmee (Robert Pattinson). Edward's family helps the family relocate so Renesmee can grow up safely and Bella can get used to her new powers. However, another vampire discovers Renesmee's existence and, fearing the danger she could cause, alerts the vampire elite, who will kill her unless Bella and Edward can prove she won't risk exposing vampire society.
Renesmee is the main reason The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 is ranked among the movies with the worst CGI in the 2010s. Her face is unsettling to look at during her infant stage and never quite matches her emotions, leading to one of the most famous examples of the uncanny valley. Amazingly, audiences could have experienced something even worse, as the original plan was to use a puppet, but they switched to CGI because its face was even more disturbing.
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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
- Release Date
- November 18, 2011
- Runtime
- 117 Minutes
- Director
- Bill Condon
WHERE TO WATCH
After the birth of Renesmee/Nessie, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.
6 'The Nutcracker in 3D' (2010)
Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
During 1920, Albert Einstein (Nathan Lane) visits his niece and nephew, Mary (Elle Fanning) and Max (Aaron Michael Drozin), and gifts them with a dollhouse and a nutcracker. That night, the nutcracker, called NC (Shirley Henderson and Charlie Rowe), comes to life, and Mary learns that he used to be human until his kingdom was taken over by the Rat King (John Turturro). To defeat him, they need to destroy the Rat King's factory, which burns children's toys to block the sky with smog.
Andrei Konchalovsky has said that The Nutcracker in 3D was his passion project for over twenty years, but the result is a confusing mess of a family film. The Nutcracker has never looked creepier, with lifeless eyes against an expressionless face. Then there is the Rat King, whose face contorts into a horrifically cheap CGI rat's mouth whenever he screams.
5 'Fire & Ice: The Dragon Chronicles' (2008)
Directed by Pitof
When an angry fire dragon attacks the kingdom of Carpia, the people send for a legendary dragon hunter to slay it. Unfortunately, he is dead, and his son, Gabriel (Tom Wisdom), is untested. Still, he and his friend Sangimel (John Rhys-Davies) are contracted to kill the beast, which unravels a hidden conspiracy and unleashes a mighty ice dragon.
Fire & Ice: The Dragon Chronicles is let down by its poor budget, which is especially notable in the dragons. Manta rays are, admittedly, a creative choice for dragon designs, but the idea is let down by how poorly rendered the models are. Nothing about their movements feels real, and their poor textures kill any hope of believing they are in the same world as the humans.
4 'The Mummy Returns' (2001)
Directed by Stephen Sommers
Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) is resurrected by a cult bent on defeating the Scorpion King (Dwayne Johnson) and claiming dominion over his army from the underworld. To do this, they require a golden bracelet which can lead them to the Scorpion King's domain, currently in the possession of Imhotep's enemies, Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn O'Connell (Rachel Weisz). When their son, Alex (Freddie Boath), puts on the bracelet, the cult kidnaps him, and the O'Connell's pursue them with help from Evelyn's brother, Jonathan (John Hannah), and Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr), who helped the O'Connell's defeat Imhotep before.
Some of the effects on Imhotep's mummy form or the jackal-headed army of the underworld look wonky, but what made the CGI in The Mummy Returns so infamous is the Scorpion King himself. He is now a gigantic mixture of man and scorpion with Dwayne Johnson's face, yet his features are unnaturally smooth. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring hadn't come out the same year, but it's hard not to look at the Scorpion King and wonder if you're watching a PS2 cutscene.
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The Mummy Returns
- Release Date
- May 4, 2001
- Runtime
- 130 minutes
- Director
- Stephen Sommers
WHERE TO WATCH
The mummified body of Imhotep is shipped to a museum in London, where he once again wakes and begins his campaign of rage and terror.
3 'Cats' (2019)
Directed by Tom Hooper
Victoria (Francesca Hayward) is a young cat living in London whose life changes forever when she is abandoned by her owner. She meets a group of alley cats called the Jellicles, who take her in on the eve of their Jellicles Ball, where the cats compete to impress their leader, Old Deuteronomy (Dame Judi Dench). The lucky winner is sent to the Heaviside Layer and given the chance at a new life.
Much sympathy must be given to the animators of Cats, since they were working under strict deadlines and were forced to rush out an unfinished product. Still, the end result is horrifying, as the human faces of the actors clash with the CGI fur covering their bodies, not to mention the ears and tails that don't always move as you'd expect. Universal tried re-releasing the film with slight fixes to the CGI, but it did little to make the characters anything less than uncomfortable to look at.
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Cats
- Release Date
- December 20, 2019
- Runtime
- 110 minutes
- Director
- Tom Hooper
Cast
-
-
-
Robbie Fairchild
-
WHERE TO WATCH
A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.
2 'Dungeons & Dragons' (2000)
Directed by Courtney Solomon
The kingdom of Izmir is thrown into turmoil when Empress Savina (Thora Birch) attempts to give more rights to the non-magical population. Though she is able to maintain order thanks to her scepter, which can control Gold Dragons, the evil mage Profion (Jeremy Irons) seeks to oppose her by finding the Rod of Savrille, which can control Red Dragons. However, the rod's location falls into the hands of two thieves named Ridley (Justin Whalin) and Snails (Marlon Wayans), a mage named Maria (Zoe McLellan), and a dwarf named Elwood (Lee Arenberg), who set off to try and recover it before Profion can use it to declare war.
The CGI is only the first of a long list of problems with Dungeons & Dragons, though given how important magic is to the film, it's among the most glaring. Spells and other magical effects never look like they are actually interacting with people, and the green screen effects create a strange depth of field experience that makes the actors stand out as if on another layer. Then there are the dragons, which look and move with the stiffness of a low-quality toy.
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Dungeons & Dragons
- Release Date
- December 8, 2000
- Runtime
- 107 Minutes
- Director
- Courtney Solomon
- Writers
- Topper Lilien, Carroll Cartwright
- Producers
- Allan Zeman, Joel Silver, Kia Jam, Nelson Leong, Thomas M. Hammel
Cast
-
Justin WhalinProfion
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Ridley Freeborn -
Empress Savina -
Bruce PayneDamodar
1 'Son of the Mask' (2005)
Directed by Lawrence Guterman
When aspiring cartoonist Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) puts on a green mask his dog Otis (Bill Farmer and Richard Steven Horvitz) found for a Halloween party, he is transformed into a living cartoon character who can alter reality. He ends up fathering a son named Alvey while wearing the mask, causing Alvey to inherit its powers. Meanwhile, the Norse god of mischief, Loki (Alan Cumming), is looking for the mask on orders from his estranged father, Odin (Bob Hoskins).
Son of the Mask is undeniably one of the worst movies of the 2000s due to a convoluted plot, lack of Jim Carrey, and for how terrifying the CGI is. The filmmakers wanted to capture the wacky and exaggerated gags of Tex Avery, but what is funny on a 2D character is downright horrific when translated into 3D and placed on top of a baby. Things get even worse when Otis briefly dons the mask and tries to kill Alvey, resulting in unfunny slapstick with a dog whose mouth is uncomfortably too large for his head.
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Son of the Mask
- Release Date
- February 18, 2005
- Runtime
- 94 minutes
- Director
- Lawrence Guterman
- Writers
- Lance Khazei
Cast
-
Jamie KennedyTim Avery -
Loki -
Traylor HowardTonya Avery -
Jorge
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