# Best "minimal cgi" movie ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864 "2017-07-22T04:02:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/1 "2017-07-22T04:02:15Z")
There is a lot of entertainment that is just animation. Some of it is very good (Shrek), some of it is just dreck. And there is a lot of “SF” CGI like Transformers, where the machines/spaceships are CGI just to represent an alternative reallity. But there are also films like, as I recall “The Golden Child”, and “The Young Sherlock Holmes”, where a little bit of imagery is used, not as the driving element, but just because the director thought it added something to the story. Your favorites? (Inspired by the memorable scene in “Paddington Bear”, when a man’s life turns to ashes and all the leaves fall --as represented on his stairway wall mural) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/2 "2017-07-22T06:23:15Z")
_Ladyhawke_ is pre-CGI, but despite it being a fantasy movie with magical elements in it, there really aren’t any special effects in it. There’s a bit of make-up, and some cross-dissolves. It’s otherwise just character banter and horse riding. For a more recent one, _Just Like Heaven_. Reece Witherspoon plays a ghost, but there’s very little of that actually shown, it’s mostly implied with clever edits and dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/3 "2017-07-22T14:34:02Z")
I don’t have a great example off the top of my head but I believe that what you’re asking for is a movie played straight that has a brief scene or moment of obvious CGI as a visual enhancement, dreamlike moment, suggestion of the divine, etc? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/4 "2017-07-22T16:29:39Z")
There was just a little CGI used in the fantasy **Willow** , during the transformation scenes – probably because at that time it was the most convincing CGI they could do. They used that CGI short demonstrating “The Genesis Effect” in **Star Trek II** , which was good (otherwise the movie was non-CGI). They evidently liked it, too, because they re-used it in the next two Star Trek movies. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/5 "2017-07-22T18:06:18Z")
There is brilliant use of CGI in _O Brother, Where Art Thou?_ Computer manipulation was used to make many of the landscapes look parched to match the depression era. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/6 "2017-07-22T23:25:21Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I don’t have a great example off the top of my head but I believe that what you’re asking for is a movie played straight that has a brief scene or moment of obvious CGI as a visual enhancement, dreamlike moment, suggestion of the divine, etc? That’s what I had in mind. But I’m absurdly pleased by the suggestion of “Oh Brother […]”. I had no idea that was CGI enhanced, and it worked really well. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/7 "2017-07-22T23:28:03Z")
Forrest Gump was pretty subtle and effective in it’s uses of CGI. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/8 "2017-07-22T23:38:34Z")
_Mad Max: Fury Road_. Pretty much only the massive haboob is CGI. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/9 "2017-07-22T23:45:16Z")
What does _Something Wicked This Way Comes_ count as? (It _had_ some impressive, if still time-limited CGI, but almost all of it was trimmed in the editing room.) ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2017, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/10 "2017-07-22T23:56:03Z")
[Like so?](https://youtu.be/CYonzhFT_z4) It’s obvious, but fits the bill otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/11 "2017-07-23T01:09:13Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > There is brilliant use of CGI in _O Brother, Where Art Thou?_ Computer manipulation was used to make many of the landscapes look parched to match the depression era. That’s not really CGI, that’s just a colour grade. All movies have those. It was the first to do it entirely digitally, but now it’s done that way for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/12 "2017-07-23T01:30:01Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > _Mad Max: Fury Road_. Pretty much only the massive haboob is CGI. I’m not sure what counts as “CGI”, but a huge amount of Fury Road has digital effects. It is an amazing achievement and the stunts and stunt driving are all incredible(and real in a way we hardly see today), but it had a ton of digital effects. A lot of combining shots and tons of computer work. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/13 "2017-07-23T01:49:55Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m not sure what counts as “CGI”, but a huge amount of Fury Road has digital effects. It is an amazing achievement and the stunts and stunt driving are all incredible(and real in a way we hardly see today), but it had a ton of digital effects. A lot of combining shots and tons of computer work. “I’ve been joking recently about how the film has been promoted as being a live action stunt driven film - which it is. But also how there’s so little CGI in the film. The reality is that there’s 2000 VFX shots in the film. A very large number of those shots are very simple clean-ups and fixes and wire removals and painting out tire tracks from previous shots, but there are a big number of big VFX shots as well.” - [Andrew Jackson, visual effects supervisor](https://www.fxguide.com/featured/a-graphic-tale-the-visual-effects-of-mad-max-fury-road/) That “big number of big VFX shots” are mainly the ones involving the haboob. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/14 "2017-07-23T05:18:17Z")
I’m always amazed with the original _Star Wars_. It’s puppets and models and blue screens. And before that, _2001_. Wow! ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/15 "2017-07-23T05:53:27Z")
I remember when I saw Terminator 3 it struck me as very old school FX-wise. Real vehicles crashing into real buildings, or so it looked. Compared to the cgi driven Matrix movies and other similar action movies of the 2000’s it was a refreshing change. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/16 "2017-07-23T11:49:37Z")
_Amélie_: CGI for some clouds and a few other bit and pieces. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/17 "2017-07-23T20:09:00Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I’m always amazed with the original _Star Wars_. It’s puppets and models and blue screens. What about the displays, like the X-Wing and TIE Fighter targeting displays? ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/18 "2017-07-23T20:30:29Z")
The Great Gatsby (2013). [Lots of CGI shots](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_NreiUYdbw), but all of them used for backgrounds, not to drive the story. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/19 "2017-07-23T20:38:01Z")
“Miss Potter” The animals in her paintings Briefly come to life. Very well done. Not CGI but in Catch 22 the picture on Major Major’s wall changes every time he walks past it. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864/20 "2017-07-24T00:05:26Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > _Amélie_: CGI for some clouds and a few other bit and pieces. Again, thank you., that’s a lovely film. And I’m going to search out “Mrs Potter”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-minimal-cgi-movie/791864.md?page=2)