MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Early CGI films that have stood the test...

Early CGI films that have stood the test of time?

posted 7 years ago by billbrown7071 (3194)
38 replies | jump to latest

Ok, So I spent a good 15 years intentionally avoiding The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.

Literally from the time they came out until 2015, I refused to watch even 1 second(even going as far as refusing to go to the movies to see Return Of The King With a Girl I was trying to hook up with in High school)

I never read the books, know nothing about the stories...so I just never cared....

Mid 2015, I decided to watch the first one to see if I could get interested....I became hooked right away, I then Watched the entire Trilogy in what turned out to be the single greatest Movie experience of my life....I've since watched The Trilogy 6 times and Even Love The HObbit Trilogy(although feel its a Huge step down)

one thing that blows me away about TLOTR trilogy is, almost all the CGI still holds up today(yes obviously if they were made today, it would have better CGI) but the CGI, Creatures, Incredible Battles, All still Hold up and Looked incredible to me the very first time I watched it in 2015...

my question is....what other films in the 80s and 90s when CGI was just getting big still hold up well even now?

[–] slimone (7996) 7 years ago

King Kong! Considering it was made in the 1930s, it's amazing.

[–] GayConservative (5) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Wint3rFir3 (7150) 7 years ago

ET: Extra Terrestrial I think holds up. However, I don't really know if it holds up, so much as the CGI featured in the film does not serve as a hindrance to my enjoyment of it. Same as Jurassic Park, The Terminator and The Matrix. You know they're supposed to be set in the 90s, so of course the CGI looks the way it does - in other words, you make exceptions.

This doesn't work as well when it comes to, say, time travel films. Mostly because the subpar CGI is usually combined with futuristic worlds that rarely capture any real or believable-looking future, making the entire film/premise of film harder to swallow. However, this doesn't really bother me when it comes to Back to the Future and stuff like that.

[–] Greyere (77) 7 years ago

Could you point to the scenes and shots with CGI?

This article about early CGI doesn't mention E.T.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120717074134/http://www.beanblossom.in.us/larryy/cgi.html

[–] Wint3rFir3 (7150) 7 years ago

My apologies. I might have gotten ET mixed up with another film - apparently only the re-release of ET has sparing usage of CGI -you can check that on the ET Wikipedia page. Weird; I'm almost certain I was reading an article stating certain scenes in the film were shot using CGI, but I can't find it in my browser history. I hope this isn't some mandela effect thing.

[–] Greyere (77) 7 years ago

There may have been some vector graphics shown on a computer screen but nothing what is now called CGI.

That would be a cool find though, 1982 E.T. CGI effects.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

The remastered edition of ET had some CGI inserted, it came out 10-15 years ago.

[–] TexasJack (12516) 7 years ago

I agree with LOTR, but I’m such a huge fan that my bias may interfere.

I think the original Jurassic Park has also held up well.

[–] billbrown7071 (3194) 7 years ago

I agree with LOTR, but I’m such a huge fan that my bias may interfere.

^^^

did you see them in theaters when they came out?

do you enjoy the Hobbit Trilogy?

[–] TexasJack (12516) 7 years ago

Sad to say I only saw Return of the King in the theater. Two of my all-time favorite movie scenes are in that movie — the Lighting of the Beacons and the Ride of the Rohirrim. I really hope that they re-release all three into theaters one of these days.

I enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy very much, certainly a lot more than most others seem to. Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage were brilliant. “Super Legolas” was silly and I do think that they stretched it out a bit. It might have worked better as two films rather than three. But I regard those as minor complaints.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 7 years ago

Terminator 2
Toy Story
Titanic
The Matrix

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Starship Troopers still looks better than most modern stuff.

[–] slimone (7996) 7 years ago

King Kong. Considering it was mad in the 1930s it definitely stands up to the test of time.