Merely "bad" CGI or "Wretched Gawdawful CGI!!"

cqmorrell · November 08, 2007, 05:01:38 PM

Caught a few minutes of "Pinata: Survivor Island" ... these MTV rejects were being chased by a big thing that looked like the evil tiki statue from the Brady Bunch. It was horrible, the monster looked fake and didn't have any "weight" or presence in the scene.

Torgo · November 08, 2007, 05:16:35 PM

Quote from: cqmorrell on November 08, 2007, 05:01:38 PM
Caught a few minutes of "Pinata: Survivor Island" ... these MTV rejects were being chased by a big thing that looked like the evil tiki statue from the Brady Bunch. It was horrible, the monster looked fake and didn't have any "weight" or presence in the scene.

The only good thing about that movie was Jaime Pressly in a string bikini.

KYGOTC · November 08, 2007, 06:50:23 PM

The monkeys in JUMANJI were pretty bad.

Torgo · November 08, 2007, 11:28:41 PM

Quote from: KYGOTC on November 08, 2007, 06:50:23 PM
The monkeys in JUMANJI were pretty bad.

I thought that every single thing in that movie was bad actually.

AndyC · November 09, 2007, 05:54:57 AM

Horrible CGI is especially jarring when it appears in an otherwise good movie.

Like watching Spider Man turn into a cheap video game whenever he starts swinging from building to building, although that did improve in the sequels.

Or check out the scene from the first Harry Potter film, in which Harry fights a troll. It just suddenly turns into a cartoon.

Of course, the most wretched example I've seen recently was in Killer Bees with C. Thomas Howell. Bad, even for 2002. Saw a bit of it on TV earlier this week - a scene with bees entering a car through the air vents and attacking a guy. It looked like John Coffey just healed somebody under the dash. Of course the effect didn't look so bad in The Green Mile, because it was some supernatural thing. When it's supposed to be a swarm of real bees, it looks very bad.

raj · November 09, 2007, 09:06:51 AM

I thought the CGI in Reign of Fire was pretty bad, along with the acting, dialog and plot.

There's a difference, to me, in expecting good CGI from a mainstream production like Harry Potter or Jumangi (if you can afford Robin Williams, spend more money to make a good movie) and V³ which is more like an amateur flick to me.

316zombie · November 09, 2007, 05:23:59 PM

your comments are why i watch older movies,or asian movies,because i agree with all the things you are saying!CGI is fine for what is SUPPOSED to be an animated movie,although i'll take oldstyle animation anyday.and i vastly prefer ray harryhausen style monsters to CGI,they look more real than anything i've seen from a computer!I recently saw godzilla,the newest one with cgi,it was dreadful!!! i hated it!!

Andrew · November 09, 2007, 05:28:50 PM

Quote from: 316zombie on November 09, 2007, 05:23:59 PM
your comments are why i watch older movies,or asian movies,because i agree with all the things you are saying!CGI is fine for what is SUPPOSED to be an animated movie,although i'll take oldstyle animation anyday.and i vastly prefer ray harryhausen style monsters to CGI,they look more real than anything i've seen from a computer!I recently saw godzilla,the newest one with cgi,it was dreadful!!! i hated it!!

You mean "Deanzilla" from 1998 with the huge iguana in New York? Toho is still making Godzilla movies and they all have CGI now (though the big guy is still a man in a suit). Several of the newer Japanese Godzilla films are very good. Check out "Godzilla: Final Wars" or "Tokyo SOS" - I have a review for "Final Wars" on the site.

CoreyHeldpen · November 09, 2007, 06:21:37 PM

Hey, everybody, I have returned! *looks around* Anyone remember me? ...Anyone?

Anyway, for truly godawful CGI, check out BLOODTHIRST 2 and KOMODO VS COBRA.

peter johnson · November 09, 2007, 06:37:48 PM

Ah!
Komodo Vs. Cobra!!:
"Look, Mommy! You can see a tree through that snake!!"
peter johnson/denny crane

Nev · November 09, 2007, 06:45:54 PM

"bigger-budget" movies with crappy cgi-

all three pre-quel star wars
spider man 2 and 3
pirates of the carib 3

"low-budget" flicks-
sabertooth
komodo
sound of thunder

very short list but i'm thinking off the top of my head.

316zombie · November 11, 2007, 03:24:50 PM

yup,that's the one,andrew!i'll take a gander at the ones you mentioned,i'm quite sure i can find trailers on netflix or youtube,thanks!

Vultur · November 12, 2007, 05:57:25 PM

Supercroc (2007) - the first picture of the floating croc looks like a giant turd. And when it jumps up & grabs a helicopter - everything goes completely blurry! Worst. CGI. Ever. (worse than Attack of Sabretooth, which I've also seen...)

DistantJ · November 13, 2007, 11:43:08 AM

The CG Zords in the Power Rangers movie are starting to look pretty naff now. Interesting how they originally blew our minds and now the Japanese men in suits in the TV show look better.

KYGOTC · November 14, 2007, 02:30:14 PM

Ive only seen CGI work completely successfully where puppets and real props could'nt in one movie and that Is Transformers. Everything else needs to stick with the real stuff, because, this may come as a shock to some movie makers, but real stuff looks REAL! Holy SH!T!

Cgi and green screens are really overused nowadays. Thats why Black Sheep rules for being a modern movie and still having the stones to use puppets and latex instead of computer nonsense.