CGI in cinema has been a major advancement in modern technology that has allowed filmmakers to create unbelievable worlds of fantasy for the audiences’ enjoyment. They are an essential part of filmmaking today, often appearing in subtle, unnoticeable ways to enhance visuals and other times to create fantastic worlds in entirety.
Given their ubiquity in movies today, audiences have become quite particular about the CGI effects that they see on screen. Use it well, or don’t use it at all seems to be the common opinion among nerdy fandoms and general spectators alike. One might ask if this stance is a bit too harsh on their beloved franchises and filmmakers. But there have been many instances in modern cinema where audiences felt that movies were utterly ruined on account of what they consider CGI disasters. In some cases, these moments inspired spirited discussions among fandoms, while in others they were terrible enough to go viral on the internet. Here are 11 of the most infamous CGI disasters in movies.
11 The Scorpion King — The Mummy Returns
The Mummy film trilogy starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz continues to be celebrated today for its unbeatable entertainment factor — it was scary, witty, and told a well-tuned story that awed viewers with its lore. Additionally, it had a spot-on casting that fans continue to praise to this day. The second movie in the series, The Mummy Returns, also swiped up Dwayne Johnson to play the final villain, a giant half-man half-scorpion beast who came straight from the underworld. The monster design for the Scorpion King was absolutely fantastic, and could have been seen as way ahead of its time. But the filmmakers missed the mark on the CGI by a huge margin, to the point that Johnson could barely be recognized in the role — and that was the legacy of one of the most memorable cinema monsters of the 2000s.
10 CGI Head — Thor: Love and Thunder
The situation has been somewhat precarious for the MCU following the glorious conclusion to its Infinity Saga. The response received by the latest installment of the Thor film series certainly didn’t help. Fans criticized Thor: Love and Thunder for its directionless plot, and matters were made worse by a CGI scene so objectively terrible that it went viral, with entire news pieces written about it. After all, how could a big-budget movie have made such a mistake? The scene in question involves Heimdall’s son, Axl, appearing to Thor as a partial apparition to pass on a message. But the special effects look so half-baked that it’s difficult to believe that the scene is from a 2023 movie.
9 Superman’s Moustache — Justice League
DC Studios have had their own share of CGI disasters in the course of building their cinematic superhero universe. Among them, the most infamous one by far is the botched CGI work that went into removing Henry Cavill’s mustache during reshoots for Justice League. Replacing Zack Snyder after his sudden departure from the project, Joss Whedon decided to put his own spin on the movie and demanded extensive reshoots. Unfortunately, Cavill had moved on to shooting Mission: Impossible – Fallout by that point, for which he was required to sport a mustache. Whedon took the only remaining option and had his mustache removed with special effects — but the work was so terrible that it became the internet’s talking point for weeks.
8 The Entire Movie — Cats
Despite featuring an impressive star cast including the likes of Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, and Taylor Swift, the 2019 movie Cats was widely criticized for its unsettling visual effects. Using live-action animation in the exact way that Cats did is a tough job as is. On top of that, the movie was an adaptation of a famed stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This meant that the animators had to figure out a way to allow the actors to emote through the special effects while still making sure the movie was filled with photo-realistic humanoid cats. That’s quite a tall order — and the movie crashed hard even with the release of its first look. The characters in the movie looked as if from a dream and successfully creeped out audiences, which was far from its intended effect.
7 Sonic’s Character Design — Sonic the Hedgehog
The case with the 2020 live action Sonic the Hedgehog movie has a rare happy ending that illustrates the good things that can happen when a studio carefully listens to its audience. The Sonic video game character holds a lot of nostalgia for Millennials, and a live action movie based on the character was eagerly anticipated.
However, responses to the trailer were disastrous as fans felt that the filmmakers had completely botched Sonic’s character design. The odd facial proportions and the use of fur in the design made the character appear somewhat terrifying and far from cute, with the word “uncanny valley” thrown around. Thankfully, the filmmakers decided to do a complete redesign of the character and pushed back the release date by three months. The drastic redesign of the character was much more personable and familiar to fans, and ended up becoming a smash hit at the box office.
6 Wolverine’s Claws — X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Despite being a solid entertainer, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was received so poorly that Fox was forced to reevaluate its plans for the franchise. Fans had issues with multiple things, the most glaring one being the botched portrayal of the famed comic book character, Deadpool. There was also a strangely heated reaction to Wolverine’s CGI claws. In the early X-Men movies, Wolverine’s claws were set up with practical effects, giving them a convincing look. Fans were confused about why Origins went back on a working formula and decided to go with shady CGI work to furnish the character with his defining features.
5 Green Lantern’s Character Design — Green Lantern
Ryan Reynolds has had the rare opportunity of getting two do-overs to secure his superhero legacy. While the first of them was the doomed Deadpool portrayal in X-Men Origins, the second one of them was as the DC hero, Green Lantern. Despite its $200 million budget, the movie ended up being a complete CGI disaster. The Green Lantern movie relied overly on CGI, and fully dressed its characters using special effects. The movie remains so widely disliked that it rarely surfaces in discussions about superhero movies.
4 CGI Kid — Twilight: Breaking Dawn
Despite all the memes surrounding it, the Twilight film franchise did one thing right, and that was recognize its fanbase. The franchise can be considered iconic in the way it captured public interest, but it was far from perfect. The Twilight saga is littered with moments of horrendous special effects that somehow escaped widespread commentary. However, the CGI design of Bella and Edward’s child in Breaking Dawn, Renesmee, is too terrible to not be included in this list.
3 Superfight — The Matrix Reloaded
One of the most influential action franchises of the 21st Century, The Matrix wowed audiences with its thought-provoking plot, mind-blowing fight sequences, and groundbreaking special effects. One particular scene in The Matrix Reloaded, however, has polarized fans to this day. It’s a magnificent fight sequence that barely lasts two minutes, in which entire hordes of Agent Smiths pile in on Neo who manages to best all of them. Audiences were understandably awestruck at this scene, as nothing like this had ever been seen in cinema. However, some fans couldn’t help but raise eyebrows at the sudden drop in the quality of CGI effects that can be noted in this scene.
Interestingly, there is a popular fan theory that tries to explain this drop in CGI quality as an in-universe phenomenon. Since this fight scene takes place inside the Matrix, the theory contends that the drop in CGI quality could be the Matrix struggling to render visuals accurately as so many Smiths were spawning at the same time.
2 Hulk Character Design — The Incredible Hulk
Released not too long after the first Iron Man movie, the 2008 movie The Incredible Hulk took a unique path in its storytelling that sets it apart from most superhero movies. It started a good duration after the disaster that gave birth to the titular character and gave an intriguing portrait of the beloved Marvel character. However, fans remember the movie unfavorably due to its half-baked CGI, which can be found throughout the movie. The movie packs some impressive fight sequences throughout, but the unconvincing CGI design of its gamma-mutated characters, including the Hulk himself, left fans unsatisfied.
1 Young Jabba — Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
The Star Wars fandom tends to be among the most particular in its opinions, often debating the merits of minor differences between different cuts of their favorite Star Wars installments. The young Jabba scene in A New Hope is one of those moments that fans generally dislike, not the least because the scene wasn’t even included in its original cut in the first place. The 1997 rerelease brought back the short scene in which a fully CGI Jabba can be seen alongside an out-of-place Boba Fett. Fans opined that the scene was completely unnecessary. On top of that, the scene only added a low point in the otherwise brilliant film with its terrible CGI design of young Jabba.