Whether you love CGI, hate it, or are somewhere in the middle and love good CGI and cringe at the worst of it, the reality is that at this point in show business CGI has kind of taken over in a big way when it comes to certain characters, settings, and even situations. The practical effects that at one time amazed audiences are no longer the norm and in some cases are even seen to be largely inferior when set next to the results that can be gained from computer graphics, though there are movies where the budget isn’t quite as high and the effects come out looking quite cheesy and not at all believable. Then there are those movies that take the time and effort to create something that looks as though a person could reach out and touch it. Seeing behind the CGI is usually pretty interesting since the process that the actors have to go through in order to make the scenes happen is just amazing, but it’s also an arduous and very time-consuming practice thanks to the amount of work and detail that goes into creating each character. Let’s be truthful here, a lot of us happen to love CGI, but we love it more when the end result looks like something that could walk off the screen into the real world.
With that in mind, here are the most effective CGI creatures created in movie history.
5. Davy Jones – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
In a way this character doesn’t feel entirely practical since having an octopus-shaped head, complete with tentacles, would appear to be something of a bother, but the manner in which this character was created was actually well done since in the movie he does have control over his tentacles, as they are a part of his body and can move independently of one another. On top of that, the valves that are shown and the fleshy head in the back have the kind of texture one might expect from such a creature as well. All in all this character is great since he’s a walking amalgam of crustacean and cephalopoda that moves far better than he should be able to.
4. Gollum – Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
As one of the main antagonists that comes into the story later on, Gollum is in all three movies but doesn’t get a great deal of representation until the second movie. By the third however he’s fully integrated into the story since he’s been captured and befriended by the Hobbits, kind of, and the third movie actually begins with a good part of his back story. Andy Serkis has become one of the greatest CGI actors of all time since he appears to have a very great understanding of how to adjust and modify his bodily movements and how to use that motion to his advantage while on camera.
3. T-1000 – Terminator 2: Judgment Day
You had to know that this character was going to make the list since to be fair he was one of the greatest CGI characters of all time when T2 came out, largely because no one had seen anything like him up until that point, apart from The Abyss. This was so different however that it boggled the minds of many people that it would work even from a fictional standpoint. Think about it, all the data that the terminator has to carry, all the programs that have exist within a fluid state, all of it would have to rendered down in such a way that it was little more than energy without any true form that had somehow been programmed in a way to grant form when it was needed.
2. Caesar – War for the Planet of the Apes
Andy Serkis is, again, one of the best in the business when it comes to CGI acting since taking this idea back to the beginning and creating a new franchise was a daunting task for anyone and everyone that was involved in the project. Caesar became the first among the apes to really strike out on his own and finally end the oppression that his people had endured for so long at the hands of humans. The interesting thing is that Caesar wasn’t the bloodthirsty type, he knew how to befriend humans that weren’t out to hurt him or his people, but he wasn’t exactly forgiving of those that meant him or his people harm either.
1. Smaug – The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies
Imagine being on screen and having to watch Benedict Cumberbatch acting this part out. One might laugh just to see it, but when the finished product is brought to the screen the sheer magnificence of the dragon was amazing. Compared to the old 70s cartoon in which Smaug looked like a giant, long-necked cat, no offense but he did, this dragon looked ready to annihilate anything that stood in his path, which he was. His final battle with the dwarves, before he was shot down by Bard, was simply epic, as was the scene in which Bilbo was attempting to hide from him.
There are lot of impressive CGI characters out there, but some of them could still use a little work.
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