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Old doesn't always mean outdated! Join us as we count down the most groundbreaking early CGI moments in film history that still hold up — and even outshine — what Hollywood produces today! We're only considering movies from 2006 and before, so expect some legendary classics to make the cut. Which of these stunning visual effects moments do you think could pass for a recent release? Let us know in the comments!
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00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're taking a deep dive into the early computer effects that rival anything made
00:13in the last two decades.
00:14For this list, we're only considering movies from 2006 and before.
00:35Modern CGI is often employed for the sake of efficiency. It's meant to create realistic settings and creatures while actors
00:43are really just acting against a green screen.
00:45However, the neon-soaked, computerized landscape of Tron is completely stylized, not meant to look authentic.
00:52Where am I? You're a guest of the master control program.
01:03The 1982 movie follows characters who enter an augmented reality. The light cycle sequence in particular, where the hero participates
01:11in an arcade-style game, is a marvel of contemporary CGI.
01:15It would be one thing if it were just human actors playing against screens. Here, we see a painstakingly designed
01:21environment, uncanny in its mix of live action and digital art.
01:25Four three to go, two and one. I'm getting out of here right now, and you guys are invited. Got
01:29it.
01:32Ready? Ready. Soar!
01:38The Wave. The Perfect Storm.
01:40You could be a meteorologist all your life and never see something like this.
01:45It would be a disaster of epic proportions.
01:49George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg star in this fact-based disaster film about a commercial fishing boat trapped in the
01:54middle of a hurricane.
01:55The Perfect Storm's defining moment is the one captured on its poster.
02:13Trying to sail over an enormous rogue wave, the ship flips over and capsizes.
02:18Industrial Light & Magic's Oscar-nominated work helps keep the moment grounded in reality.
02:23The scene is captured as if the camera is in the middle of the same stormy conditions.
02:28Our view is obscured by water, wind, and sea foam.
02:31By doing this, it disorients us while hiding the imperfections of the complicated animation work.
02:36How do we do this again?
02:38No school, boy.
02:40Never was.
02:41Becoming Invisible. Hollow Man.
02:43Every great monster movie has a great transformation scene.
02:47In Hollow Man, what would have been done with makeup and tricks of light in the old days was achieved
02:52through motion control cameras and digital cloning.
02:55Okay, how are you feeling?
02:57I'm a little tense.
02:58Pulse 88, BP 140 over 95, it's a bit elevated. I wonder why.
03:03Kevin Bacon plays a scientist who undergoes a revolutionary experiment that makes him invisible.
03:08The movie is full of impressive special effects shots, but the initial invisibility scene is by far the most impressive.
03:14Wait.
03:17I'm starting to feel something.
03:21Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's my arm. It's getting warm.
03:26We watch as Bacon's body disappears bit by bit, muscle by muscle, organ by organ, and finally bone by bone,
03:33until he fades into nothingness.
03:35The CGI here had to be impeccable. Sony refused to green light the movie without proof that it could work.
03:41Vitals returning to normal. Pulse 110 dropping. Blood pressure's 130 over 75.
03:46Quantum readings normal.
03:47Electrical activity is stabilizing.
03:54Something to tell the grandkids?
03:56Freeway Chase, iRobot.
03:58There's no way my luck is that bad.
04:02Oh, hell no.
04:05This Will Smith sci-fi flick is not fondly remembered, but its effects definitely stand the test of time.
04:11Due to the unique physical frame and variety of movements the robots in iRobot's screenplay required, the creative team realized
04:18very quickly CGI was the only way.
04:21The effects team spent over a year perfecting it.
04:24It's the internal skeleton inside the shaded robot, and so now we're gonna make it move based on the markers,
04:30and then we'll just make that skeleton go onto the shaded robot, and voila.
04:34Your shaded robot is moving.
04:35The most impressive scene is the one where Smith's character is besieged by a horde of androids in his car.
04:40It took 10 weeks alone to complete post-production work, and that was an abbreviated timeline.
04:46The sequence took meticulous animation due to the fast-moving camera work.
04:50Luckily, no actual robots were harmed in the making of this film.
04:53You like that?
05:07Now you've missed me off!
05:09Bullet Time, The Matrix.
05:11Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real?
05:16What if you were unable to wake from that dream?
05:19How would you know the difference between the dream world?
05:21It's easily one of the most iconic movie scenes of the 90s.
05:25On top of being peak Y2K-era cool, The Matrix's bullet time sequence also set a new standard for CGI
05:32images.
05:33Bullet time is something that was conceived for The Matrix specifically,
05:37but I think it's a byproduct of the directors observing technology, and then they ask the right question at the
05:45right time.
05:45As Keanu Reeves' Neo taps into his newfound power, he finds himself able to dodge bullets as they zoom toward
05:52him.
05:52We see them blaze a trail across the air around him.
05:55This is another case where it's not meant to look true to reality as we know it.
05:59The Matrix is highly stylized, with dazzling and cutting-edge imagery that places us out of space and time.
06:05It changed how action movies were made going forward.
06:14You're empty. So are you.
06:17The Water Tentacle – The Abyss
06:19James Cameron began his career in visual effects, so it's no wonder his films always push the envelope.
06:25The computer-generated aliens in The Abyss are notable for their ability to manipulate water.
06:31They must have done something to us.
06:35Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think you could say that.
06:39In the scene where the extraterrestrials make first contact with the crew of a nuclear submarine,
06:44they do it in the form of a shape-shifting stream of water.
06:47The tentacle required so many considerations both on set and in post-production.
06:52We had to know that we could make that effect work, and at the end of the day,
06:57an amazing team at ILM, led by Dennis Mirren, came to us and said,
07:01we think we can do this.
07:03It's the hard-won result of a careful balance of light, arduous rehearsals with a dummy figure,
07:08and several hours spent on animating just one single frame.
07:12It's still mesmerizing to this day.
07:14No, wait, it's okay.
07:16Sweet Christ, all of you.
07:18I think he likes you.
07:19Davy Jones's beard, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest.
07:23Do you feel dead?
07:28Do you feel like dark abyss?
07:33Disney's hugely successful pirate saga blends supernatural thrills with the grit and grime of seafaring.
07:39Soul-stealing phantom Davy Jones is a particularly striking villain due to his beard,
07:44which is not made of hair, but actually a tangle of slimy tentacles.
07:47Let no joyful voice be heard.
07:52Let no man look up at the sky with hope.
07:58And let this day be cast by we who ready to wake.
08:05The Kraken!
08:07The image was created by visual effects powerhouse industrial light and magic through a combination of motion capture technology and
08:14post-production CGI.
08:15The tentacles are so intricately detailed that they almost look practical, as if puppeteered off-screen.
08:22Actor Bill Nighy only wore a prosthetic for one scene.
08:25The rest is the magic of computer-generated effects.
08:28I only bet on what's dearest to a man's heart,
08:33else there's no way to tell if he's bluffing.
08:37What a man is willing to risk, or not to risk.
08:43That's a measure of his soul.
08:45Battle of the Pelennor Fields, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King.
08:54Ride with me.
08:57My lady.
09:04The conclusion of an epic deserves an epic conclusion of its own.
09:08The final chapter of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is an extended battle sequence that mixes real-life footage,
09:13miniatures, and countless CGI models.
09:16The result is a magnificent set piece that's overwhelming on first and even second watch.
09:36Hordes of armies on horseback clash on the fields,
09:39which were created using reference photos of the New Zealand countryside that were then mapped onto a digital arena.
09:45Gigantic beasts stomp through the field,
09:47and actors ride between their trunk-like legs as if they're actually there.
09:51It's about as seamless as live-action footage and CGI imagery can get.
10:08Liquid Metal, Terminator 2, Judgment Day.
10:12So this other guy hates a Terminator like you, right?
10:15Not like me. The T-1000. Advanced prototype.
10:20You mean more advanced than you are?
10:22Yes. And Mimendi Kali Alloi.
10:25What the hell does that mean?
10:27Taking his innovative special effects further,
10:29director James Cameron came up with an inventive and almost impossible to render feature for his second Terminator.
10:35The T-1000 is a shape-shifting killer android made of liquid metal.
10:40Actor Robert Patrick's likeness becomes spliced with a shimmering, metallic CGI model.
10:45This gets a huge payoff in the refinery set climax.
10:48Go! Run!
10:49No! We've got to stick together!
10:50John!
10:51John, you've got to go now.
10:53John!
10:54Go! Now!
10:56Not even freezing the Terminator and blowing it up can stop it from its deadly mission.
11:01Watching the T-1000's liquid metal shell melt and then recollect itself and regenerate
11:06is still an impressive feat of technical filmmaking over three decades later.
11:10Come on! We've got to get out of here! Come on!
11:12Get up!
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11:39The Brachiosaurus, Jurassic Park
11:42How'd you do this?
11:47I'll show you.
11:48Our first glimpses of the title amusement park are crucial.
11:51Whether or not we believe in the power of Jurassic Park rests on this first impression.
11:56Sam Neill and Laura Dern's expressions of wonder when they see the Brachiosaurus for the first time
12:00became the defining moment of the movie.
12:03But it wouldn't have worked without the dinosaur itself.
12:05It's a dinosaur.
12:12You're dead. You crazy son of a bitch, you're dead.
12:15The Oscar-winning team behind the dinosaurs achieved a creature that is truly stunning to look at.
12:21It doesn't even look digital. It just looks real.
12:24Between the music, the actors giving a masterclass in acting with objects that aren't there,
12:29and the movie's industry-shaking special effects, this moment is essential cinema.
12:34They're moving in herds.
12:38They do move in herds.
12:40Which of these CGI moments do you think could pass for a recent release?
12:43Tell us in the comments.
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