Summary
Older and more recent movies alike occasionally utilize practical effects that might as well be CGI with how realistic they look. Since this technology became more widely available,Hollywood has arguably become too dependent on special effects.Some movies are completely overwhelmed by green screen settings and motion capture characters, resulting in an overall feeling of it being fake, even if nothing in particular looks all that bad. The best way to avoidweird CGI moments people can’t unseeis to stick to practical effects.
However, somehilariously unconvincing practical effects in moviesare proof that it is not a guaranteed method; it requires a lot of planning and work to create something that looks great.The best instances of practical effects in movies used actors, animatronics, models, and massive setsto render some famous scenes. It is all worth it when what they make might become one of thebest movie action sequences filmed without CGIand introduce other filmmakers to a radical new technique.
10 Older Movies Where The CGI Still Looks Good By Modern Standards
The CGI in decades-old movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars looks as good as or even better than today’s effects.
10Triceratops & Raptors
Jurassic Park (1993)
The firstJurassic Parkmovie accomplished its then-never-before-seen spectacle of living dinosaurs with a combination of practical and special effects. The T-Rex required the most use of CGI, standing out as the most memorable moment in the movie. However, other famous scenes relied on"dinosaurs"that were actually there for the actors to interact with.The sick Triceratops is a detailed animatronic created for the movie,whose movements are relatively simple.
Meanwhile,Jurassic Park’s Velociraptors are bigger than in real life(real Raptors were only a foot and a half tall, while they are nearly six feet in the movies) because they were portrayed by human actors. A lot of work went into creating the realistic costumes, which were then donned by dexterous actors for key action scenes.Jurassic Parkwas clever with how it balanced different effects techniques,and the practical effects are just as good as the CGI.
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park is a science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on Michael Crichton’s novel. Released in 1993, it follows a wealthy entrepreneur who creates a theme park with living dinosaurs. When security systems fail, experts and visitors experience the perilous reality of the park.
9Cooper In The Tesseract
Interstellar (2014)
The Tesseract Cooper enters inInterstellar’s endinglooks completely surreal, and did use some CGI to enhance it. However,Christopher Nolan opted for building a real Tesseract set for this sequencerather than relying completely on green screens. In this scene, Cooper tries to communicate with his young daughter and does manage to contact her as an adult as he navigates time as a physical dimension. VFX artist Paul Franklin said (viaIndieWire):
“Chris came up with the idea of an alternating lattice where each of the rooms has two sets of world lines coming in and the third axis alternates along the routes. If you look carefully at the Tesseract, you have these world lines that stretch through the lattice and the rooms are embedded as a series of moments in time along the world lines. It’s either a moment in the future or a moment in the past, depending on which way you go.”
In addition to working with production designer Nathan Crowley,Nolan consulted theoretical physicist Kip Thorne about creating the Tesseract;Thorne was also an executive producer of the movie.Interstellaris renowned for the amount of scientific research that went into its story, which is dependent upon special effects throughout. However, one of its most visually stunning sequences is a real set, elevating the point of Cooper being able to physically interact with time.
Interstellar
From Christopher Nolan, Interstellar imagines a future where the Earth is plagued by a life-threatening famine, and a small team of astronauts is sent out to find a new prospective home among the stars. Despite putting the mission first, Coop (Matthew McConaughey) races against time to return home to his family even as they work to save mankind back on Earth.
8Entering Another World Through A Bathtub
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
Like in the original movie, Mary Poppins takes the children in her care to a fantastical otherworld inMary Poppins Returns. Julie Andrews instructs Jane and Michael on how to jump into a sidewalk drawing, whileEmily Blunt takes the new generation of Banks children on a nautical voyage.Mary and the children enter a new world through a bathtub, where they sail through a magical sea using a bathtub as their vessel.
The moment when they enter this new world is practical effects; the top of the bath is covered in a thick layer of bubbles to conceal the slide built into the bottom.
The moment when they enter this new world is practical effects; the top of the bath is covered in a thick layer of bubbles to conceal the slide built into the bottom.The actors only needed to dive straight into the bath and down the slide,and the captured movement looked completely magical."[Mary Poppins] has this ability to bring magic to these children’s lives,“said Blunt in a behind-the-scenes feature (viaYouTube). Indeed, the child actors involved looked like they were having the time of their lives filming this moment.
Mary Poppins Returns
The long-awaited sequel to 1964’s Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins Returns stars Emily Blunt as the titular character, who returns to help the Banks family during the Great Depression after the death of the now-adult Michael Banks' wife. While the original Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews, did not appear in the film, a few of the original film’s actors such as Karen Dotrice and Dick Van Dyke made cameo appearances. Besides Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Wishaw, Emily Mortimer, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep star as part of the ensemble cast.
7Stewardess Picks Up Floating Pen
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2001: A Space Odysseyis one of the most famous instances in Hollywood history of a sci-fi movie breaking ground over and over again with its effects and setting up many of the conventions of the genre. However,2001: A Space Odyssey’s effects were done without CGI, predating this kind of technology in cinema.Stanley Kubrick and his team used things including models, massive rotating sets, wires, and slow-motion captureto render the scenes of ships traveling through space and the passengers experiencing weightlessness.
One of the most simple moments in the movie illustrates the strange norm for the people on board this spaceship. A sleeping passenger’s pen has floated away from him when a stewardess comes in, picks it up out of the air, and secures it again.This moment was created by taping the pen to a glass circlefor the actress to pull it away and set it down.
2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey is one of Stanley Kubrick’s most well-known films. A science-fiction epic, the film tells the story of the journey of Discovery One, a spacecraft operated by a group of scientists, astronauts, and a sentient computer, on a mission to Jupiter to investigate a mysterious monolith. Considered one of the greatest films ever made, Kubrick combines sparse dialogue with the heavy use of scoring and ambiguous imagery to create something that eschews conventional filmmaking.
6Engineer’s Severed Head
Prometheus (2012)
The divisive legacy sequelPrometheusopens with a being later known as an Engineer’s death. Years later, his skull is studied by a team of scientists, who briefly reactivate its neural pathways, causing it to move before it explodes. A lot of CGI was used forPrometheus, butthe filmmakers also utilized practical effects in the longstanding tradition of theAlienfranchise,which first used a real costume for the original Xenomorph that terrorized Ripley and her crew.
VFX artist Gustav Hoegen shared in a reel the animatronics he designed forPrometheus,including the Engineer’s head and David’s decapitated head (viaYouTube). Hoegen also worked onEx Machinaand all the Disney-eraStar Warsmovies as a props and animatronics designer. People may be surprised at how close studios come to producing the technology seen in certain movies when they are actually robotics capable of the necessary movements for the story.
Prometheus
Prometheus, released in 2012, is a science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. It follows a team of explorers as they uncover clues about humanity’s origins, embarking on a perilous interstellar expedition where they confront formidable challenges to secure the future of mankind.
10 Sci-Fi Movies To Watch If You Like Prometheus
Prometheus is a cerebral take on the sci-fi genre, and fans of the movie will want to check out these recommendations that make audiences think.
5Flame-Throwing Guitar
Mad Max: Fury Road’s flamethrower guitarist is called Coma the Doof Warrior, who has his own backstory preceding the events of the movie.Fury Road presentsan incredible, gritty post-apocalyptic setting which is so effective in part because of the use of practical effects and real vehicles and sets. Musician Iota was actually strapped to a moving vehicle during filming, whilethe guitar and its flame-throwing capabilities are both real.
The guitarist quickly became own of the most memorable images from this movie, naturally inviting questions about how he was created.Iota cited Angus Young and AC/DC as an influence on Coma’s character and his costume inFury Road,blending classic rock with the harsh world for a brilliant aesthetic effect (viaMovieWeb). Iota also suggested that the guitar’s sound quality was perfect for the movie, complaining that it would be awful to record an album with but worked for the open road.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road is a post-apocalyptic film set in a desolate desert landscape where society has collapsed. Released in 2015, the story follows two rebels, Max Rockatansky and Imperator Furiosa, as they attempt to survive and bring balance to a world torn by chaos and strife.
4Destruction Of The White House & New York City
Independence Day (1996)
Independence Day’s White House explosion was filmed without CGI, accomplished using a model roughly as tall as a person which was then obliterated. The sequence includes the extraterrestrial invaders also destroying the Empire State Building, for which a model was also built. Under the direction of Roland Emmerich,explosives were strategically used for the famous scene of all this destruction inIndependence Day.
These practical effects have stood the test of time and are a major part of the movie’s marketing of heroes saving the planet from complete decimation.Emmerich convinced the studio to use the shot of the White House being destroyed in the movie’s advertising,possibly contributing to its financial success. Ironically, Emmerich went on to direct two more movies featuring the destruction of the White House,The Day After TomorrowandWhite House Down.
Independence Day
Roland Emmerich’s iconic 1996 sci-fi disaster movie Independence Day chronicles the attack of a hostile race of aliens against planet Earth. When extraterrestrial aircraft occupy Earth without warning, the forces of humanity quickly band together to stop them. At the behest of President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), US Marine pilot Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) and satellite engineer David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) organize humanity’s last-ditch counterattack against the technologically-advanced alien mothership.
3Pennywise’s Lazy Eye
IT (2017)
Bill Skarsgård is one of the optimal actors to play any monster in a horror movie, most famous for his portrayal of the killer clown Pennywise inIT. Random talents of Skarsgård’s contributed to an even creepier version of one of Stephen King’s monsters. Notably,director Andy Muschietti had the idea for Pennywise to have a lazy eyeand occasionally appear cross-eyed. Muschietti was planning to add this in digitally until he casually mentioned it to Skarsgård, who said that this was something he could do naturally (viaYouTube).
A lot of the terror ofITcomes down to Skarsgård’s brilliant portrayal of the villain,including his manipulation of his eyes.“What are the chances that the actor that you cast can do that practically?“said Muschietti in the behind-the-scenes feature. Although Tim Curry is also a talented horror actor who gave a strong performance as Pennywise in the 1990s, small things like this brought the remake to the next level.
It
In the film It, a group of seven children in a small Maine town, known as The Losers Club, confronts various life challenges, including bullies and a malevolent entity. The creature, which takes on the guise of a clown named Pennywise, becomes the focus of their courageous battle.
2Arthur’s Hallway Fight
Inception (2010)
More things inInceptionare practical than people would assume. One of the movie’s most captivating scenes showsArthur, Cobb’s de facto second-in-command, fighting off assailants in a hotel hallway that is rotatingdue to the motion of the person having this dream in the next level out. This sequence was accomplished with a massive rotating set, requiring the use of some wires and skilled stunt doubles to execute the choreography.
Nolan’s best sci-fi movies all have a thrillingly tangible feel, due to him often turning to extensive production design to accomplish things like this.
StudioBinder’s video (viaYouTube) showcases Nolan’s commentary on how this technique was used in2001: A Space Odyssey. Nolan’s best sci-fi movies all have a thrillingly tangible feel, due to him often turning to extensive production design to accomplish things like this. Even ifCGI could have produced a realistic version of Arthur moving through the hallway,it feels just a little bit more real when the cast and crew did the extra work while filming.
Inception
Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan, features a skilled thief who uses dream-sharing technology to steal corporate secrets. He is tasked with planting an idea into a CEO’s mind, while confronting his troubled past, which threatens the mission and his team.
10 Best Movies Like Christopher Nolan’s Inception
Christopher Nolan’s Inception has been bending minds since 2010, but for those who already watched it, there are many other sci-fi thrillers to see.
1Trench Run With X-Wings
Star Wars (1977)
The originalStar Warstrilogy famously dazzled everyone with its special effects but is also widely known to have used a lot of models due to the constraints of the available technology. Namely, most of the spacecrafts and land vehicles were models, with sets being built of cockpits and interiors in which to film the actors.Perhaps no sequence utilizing this method of filmmaking is more famous than the Rebellion’s trench run to destroy the first Death Star,applying these models to high-speed action.
Some of the new editionsStar Warschanges that improve the original trilogypertain to the trench run, with moments of CGI-rendered footage of the X-Wings and TIE fighters being added in.Yet almost everything in theStar Warstrench run sequence looks amazing as is,done with the tools George Lucas had at the time. Feats of filmmaking like this one pushed forward the advancement of CGI, yet are still a testament to the standing value of practical effects.
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Star Wars is a seminal science fiction film released in 1977 that follows the quest of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo to rescue Princess Leia from the oppressive Imperial forces. They are aided by the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, as they strive to restore peace to the galaxy.
