The Top 20 CGI And Animatronic Characters In Live Action Movies
We’re taking a look at the Top 20 CGI and Animatronic Characters In Live Action Movies.
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In a bland world such as ours, where aliens and monsters don’t really exist and the scariest living creatures on Earth are the members of the Tea Party, we have to depend on film in order to bring truly fantastical characters to life. In the old days, a man in an ape suit or a little person wrapped in tin foil masquerading as a robot were about as close to fantasy as we ever got. But over the past four decades, filmmakers have been taking advantage of advancing technologies, both digital and practical, in order to bring some otherworldy characters to the big screen.
Whether a director wants to visit the inhabitants of an alien world, create a towering monster, or digitally remove the herpes from Megan Fox, almost anything a filmmaker can envision is now possible. But special effects are tricky, and just because you have computer generated imagery or an animatronic character on screen doesn’t mean an audience will connect with it. There is a fine line between special effects perfection and a SyFy Channel movie reject. They take millions of dollars to complete, yet when done right, these characters can make us feel more than any square-jawed Hollywood thespian, despite the fact that they aren't technically real.
This Friday, Real Steel opens starring Hugh Jackman and dozens of pugilist robots created using a combination of CGI and animatronics. In honor of this rock ‘em sock ‘em movie release, we’re taking a look at the Top 20 CGI and Animatronic Characters In Live Action Movies.
RELATED: The 50 Greatest Action Movies of All Time
Written by Jason Serafino (@serafinoj1)
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20. THE HULK IN THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008)
Lean, mean, and green, The Incredible Hulk’s version of the Jade Giant smashed Ang Lee’s ill-fated 2003 attempt at the character. As the second movie at the newly created Marvel Studios, The Incredible Hulk was unfortunately the victim of endless in-fighting between the studio, director Louis Leterrier, and Edward Norton. This led to a movie that packed in a lot of brawn, with very little brains behind it.
The film’s crowning achievement, however, was the creation of the Hulk himself. Crafted by the special effects artists at Rhythm and Hues, this Hulk looked more like the feral Sal Buscema version from the '80s, rather than resembling a purple pants wearing Shrek like Ang’s version.
Not only could this Hulk tear apart Army jeeps and turn police cars into makeshift boxing gloves, but he could also share a quiet scene with Betty Ross in a rain drenched cave and convey emotion like any great movie monster.
19. THE SANDMAN IN SPIDER-MAN 3 (2007)
Being that there is really no practical way to create the Sandman on screen without dousing actor Thomas Hayden Church with dangerous radiation, director Sam Raimi had to rely on an abundance of CGI to bring the classic Stan Lee/Steve Dtiko villain to life. These sand effects could have wound up achieving Scorpion King levels of suck if left in the wrong hands, but with a little care and a $200 million budget, the Sandman was actually the highlight of an otherwise unwatchable film.
The end result was a man who could turn his fists into menacing hammers, escape the Wall Crawler by transforming into a giant sandstorm, and morph himself into a 10-story tall granulated monster. Sure the action scenes looked cool, but the CGI Sandman could also show enough emotion to tell a gripping story.
One scene in particular works better than the rest when the Sandman first struggles with his new powers after his accident. Set to a very appropriate score and rendered tragically, the Sandman's introductory scene proves how important CGI can be in the hands of a great filmmaker.
18. ASLAN IN THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE (2005)
Somehow, the CGI artists at Rhythm and Hues Studios brought a talking lion that is actually an allegory for Christ to life without journeying into the absurd. Virtually indistinguishable from a real lion, the only way to differentiate Aslan from a flesh-and-blood feline is the fact that most of them don’t sound like Liam Neeson.
What is really impressive about Aslan is that he’s based firmly on an animal that we can see at any time in nature. Any imperfection would be easily noticeable because we have a distinct frame of reference for the animal they are trying to create. When a movie presents a CGI alien or monster, liberties can be taken and audiences aren’t as critical about the accuracy of the CGI model.
But when it comes to real life animals, these characters need to be flawless in order for an audience to truly buy in to what is happening on screen, and Aslan is a perfect example of that.
10. OPTIMUS PRIME IN THE TRANSFORMERS TRILOGY (2007-2011)
There might not be much in the way of artistic merit in Michael Bay’s Transformers trilogy, but Industrial Light & Magic's computer generated Optimus Prime is one of the most intricate and detailed animated characters to ever be put on screen. Every nut, bolt, and gear is rendered to absolute perfection, while the character’s movements and mannerisms are about as close to a real Transformer as we’re ever going to get.
Primarily an action character, Optimus isn’t the most emotive CGI beast we’ve ever seen, but we would be lying if we said he wasn’t one of the most awe-inspiring. It also helps that Peter Cullen added some life to the character by reprising his role as the voice of Prime, which was integrated seamlessly into the CGI model’s performance.
There are certainly more difficult characters to create for CGI artists, but with the Transformers having such a hardcore fan base, the fact that the CGI version of Prime has been praised across the board is evidence enough of his quality.
16. DR. MANHATTAN IN WATCHMEN (2009)
As one of the most philosophical and introspective characters ever put on the page of a comic, Dr. Manhattan was a tall order for CGI artists to create because he didn't simply go around fighting baddies and smashing cars. Real acting was required, as well as a full range of subtle emotions.
Despite the failings of Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen, somehow the crew on the movie perfectly pulled off Dr. Manhattan, even though he was undoubtedly the trickiest character to adapt. He was quiet, contemplative, and graceful, without ever looking over-the-top or cartoony. There wasn't a moment where he felt anything less than genuine.
He was also completely nude and featured a meticulously detailed blue package. We're pretty sure that's a first for any CGI character. To this day, though, we feel bad for the poor souls that were in charge of animating Doc Manhattan's junk.
15. JABBA THE HUTT IN STAR WAR EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)
Before the advent of CGI, and before Kirstie Alley ballooned to the size of a Volvo, the only way to truly bring Jabba the Hutt to life was through a gigantic puppet. Complete with animatronic eyes and tongue, the large Jabba puppet was also hollowed out so a few midgets could fit inside to work the tail. As simple as this puppet may look, it was a large, complicated beast that quickly became one of the highlights of an otherwise hokey looking film.
In the prequels, and in the Star Wars special editions, Jabba and the other Hutts have been created via CGI, thanks to ILM. Despite having decades of innovation to work with, these never quite lived up to the hollowed-out animatronic puppet that was stuffed with midgets.
14. THE TERMINATOR IN THE TERMINATOR (1984) AND T2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)
Part of the brilliance of the first two Terminator movies was the technical wizardry that Stan Winston and his team of special effects artists brought to director James Cameron’s world. Before CGI really took over, it was a conceptual challenge for Cameron to bring his Terminator endoskeletons to the big screen, but Winston's Academy Award winning team blew everyone away. The only thing scarier than these soulless chrome robots were Linda Hamilton's jacked-up physique in T2.
In the first Terminator, Winston’s animatronics shots were few and far between, with most of the Terminator endoskeleton effects coming courtesy of stop-motion animation. But there are a few scenes, especially when Arnold Schwarzenegger does some gory self-surgery, where you could see the beginning of Winston’s brilliance.
Thanks to a bigger budget and some technical advances in the field, Terminator 2 gave Winston even more opportunity to perfect his animatronic Terminator. In fact, it didn’t take long to stun audiences because Winston and Cameron decided to go all-out future war in the film's opening moments.
13. THE SKEKSIS IN DARK CRYSTAL (1982)
There was a time when there was nothing that Jim Henson and his team of animatronics experts couldn't create. Before CGI brought soullessness to the big screen, Henson’s puppets featured more life and expression than Joan Rivers’ face, and his talents were coveted all over Hollywood.
Henson’s 1982 movie, Dark Crystal, was a family film that was co-directed by Muppets veteran, Frank Oz. In it, Henson’s team created countless animatronic puppets to fill his world, but none were more advanced than the Skeksis, a race of vulture-beaked creatures from another world.
Henson’s genius somehow turned rubber and metal into living, breathing characters that effortlessly told a story and connected with audiences. He made puppetry into an art form and, in the process, changed films forever.
12. GENERAL GRIEVOUS IN STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005)
Touted as one of the biggest baddies in the Star Wars universe, General Grievous was an over-the-top throwback to the moustache-twirling villains of yesteryear. Infinitely boisterous, yet cowardly, Grievous was a completely CGI creation by Industrial Light & Magic, the studio that handled all six Star Wars movies.
As a twisted hybrid of alien and robot, Grievous didn’t set a lofty standard in terms of real emotions or nuanced acting, but in terms of pinpoint detail and impressive action, Grievous might still be the best ever. Whether he was wielding four lightsabers at once, or flying around in a slick starship, Grievous was always convincing and never dull, which is the mark of any memorable CGI character.
After seeing what could be done with these animated characters, we only wish that ILM and George Lucas would have settled on creating a completely computer generated Anakin Skywalker so we could be spared the horrible acting of Hayden Christensen.
11. THE WATER ALIENS IN THE ABYSS (1989)
The CGI work in James Cameron’s The Abyss is a precursor to almost every animated creature that came after it. From startling water effects, to realistic facial expressions, the water aliens in this movie were a small building block towards what has become one of the most prevalent move making tools of the past two decades.
The Abyss wasn’t exactly a blockbuster hit when it came out, despite a strong critical response; but over the years it has been recognized as a landmark in special effects technology. James Cameron has been a part of special effects revolutions in every decade since the '80s, and The Abyss was merely the beginning of what the director has brought to the movie industry.
10. YODA IN STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005)
Originally portrayed by a hand puppet thanks to the legendary Frank Oz, George Lucas decided to update Yoda for the digital age by making the 900-year-old Jedi completely CGI in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Thankfully, Yoda didn’t have the same over-exaggerated Tex Avery look that Jar-Jar Binks had in Episode I; instead, he was a fully realized animated character that had the emotional range of any true thespian.
He could be involved in an intimate discussion, a gigantic battle, or a humorous exchange, and pull them all off more believably than any puppet could ever hope to. But even though this new and improved Yoda wasn’t a hollowed out piece of rubber with the hand of an elderly voice actor going up the rear end, it still retained the same look and charm that people remember from his first appearance in The Empire Strikes Back.
9. T-1000 IN TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)
James Cameron may be one of the most pompous directors in Hollywood, but there is no denying that the man can put together a great movie when he wants to. Terminator 2 is Cameron’s best combination of story, heart, and testosterone-fueled action, but despite the memorable performances by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, T2 is perhaps most remembered for the unstoppable T-1000.
Made of liquid metal, this robotic nightmare is quite possibly the best original villain to ever be put on screen, thanks in no small part to the digital artists at ILM. They created the most comprehensive liquid effects up until that point, and, truth be told, the effects are still better than a lot of the rushed CGI work being done today.
Whether he was creating metal knives, turning into a metallic puddle, or morphing in front of our eyes, T-1000 is the creepiest digital creation ever. Seriously, look at Terminator: Salvation; nothing in that movie looks half as good as T-1000, and it came out about 18 years after T2.
8. JAWS IN JAWS (1975)
It may seem pretty tame now, but when Steve Spielberg first brought a monstrous animatronic shark to the big screen in Jaws, it simply astonished people. Spielberg and his crew were making up these filming techniques as they went along, and no one knew whether or not the mechanized puppet would even work all throughout filming.
Of course, Spielberg and his special effects crew not only managed to make the mechanical shark work, but they made it part of pop culture history. Jaws spawned numerous sequels, video games, and amusement park rides, but nothing tops the terror of the original. It was one of the biggest gambles of Spielberg’s career, but it paid off brilliantly.
Jaws showed that it was possible to create a main character using only special effects and have it work within a movie. (Mind you, the animatronic shark had some serious difficulties and led Spielberg to leave far more up to our imagination than he'd originally intended to.) Filmmakers like George Lucas, James Cameron, and Peter Jackson soon followed and improved upon these effects, but Spielberg really opened the doors to their unfiltered imagination.
7. KING KONG IN KING KONG (2005)
What better way is there to remake a movie that featured groundbreaking special effects than to film a modern update that had its own brand of jaw-dropping technical wizardry? Peter Jackson’s digital entry into the world of King Kong was a globetrotting epic full of great action, interesting characters, and an epic scope rarely seen in modern cinema. But everything else paled in comparison to WETA’s interpretation of the giant ape himself.
Resembling an actual gorilla more than the monstrous rubber model from the ‘30s, this Kong was impeccably detailed and photorealistic, right down to the individual hair follicles and battle-worn scar tissue. No detail was overlooked and you could practically count all of Kong’s teeth and taste his stale monkey breath whenever he let out a bloodcurdling growl.
But beyond the fact that this Kong was the most realistic looking digital ape up until that point, he also showed the most personality. He was a short-tempered, strong, loving, playful character that was more emotionally vulnerable than most of his flesh-and-blood co-stars.
6. DAVY JONES IN PRIATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST (2006)
Based on various legends that sailors used tell on the high-seas, Davy Jones was a purely disgusting creature, crafted with soaking wet perfection by Industrial Light & Magic. Sporting his trademark tentacle beard, Jones was a slimey CGI landmark, wrapped around the brilliant motion capture performance of Bill Nighy.
The most surprising aspect of Davy Jones is that while he’s a full-fledged fantasy character, he’s still nearly photorealistic. The texture and movement of each tentacle is so believable that it’s surprising for some people to learn that absolutely none of it was real.
When George Lucas founded Industrial Light & Magic back in 1975, no one expected the company to survive after Star Wars, which everyone was convinced would be a huge financial train wreck. Yet over 30 years later, they were responsible for one of the most complicated and convincing animated characters ever put on film.
5. THE NA'VI IN AVATAR (2009)
There are probably only a handful of people on Earth that have yet to see James Cameron’s Avatar, but even those folks know that the movie has some of the best special effects in the last decade. Cameron and the team at WETA seamlessly blended live actors with a fully populated CGI planet, which resulted in one of the most beautiful alien worlds we have ever seen.
The movie’s most publicized achievement was the creation of the Na’vi, the blue skinned alien race that inhabit the world of Pandora. These impeccably-detailed aliens were some of the most convincing creatures ever produced, and could even teach their co-star, Sam Worthington, a thing or two about acting.
The only thing really holding the Na’vi back from being more impressive is the fact that Avatar is little more than Dances with Wolves set in space. If there was a better script involved, and if Cameron was more focused on storytelling rather than tinkering with CGI, perhaps WETA would have been able to do even more with the Na’vi.
4. E.T. IN E.T. (1982)
Who thought that a short, rubbery, ugly looking alien with an appetite for Reese’s Pieces could manage to rake in over $700 million in worldwide ticket sales? Then again, when you have a couple of visionaries in charge of making a movie, these films have no boundaries.
Depending on the scene, E.T. was either a full animatronic puppet, or a costume that had animatronic elements that a little person could fit into. It could emote perfectly and had over a dozen facial expressions at its disposal. The baby steps that Spielberg took during Jaws were more like gigantic strides with the advancements made in E.T. The puppet could pull off comedy, joy, anger, and remorse completely convincingly, and singlehandedly made the questionable premise of the movie work flawlessly.
While the special effects team did a great job in bringing this puppet to life, it was really Spielberg’s vision that made E.T. break down the barriers of prior works of puppetry and become one of the most memorable on-screen characters of the ‘80s.
3. CAESAR IN RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011)
This one came out of nowhere. When it was first revealed that WETA studios would help bring Caesar to life with the help of mo-cap actor, Andy Serkis, we were intrigued. But then stories started to come out that Rise of the Planet of the Apes would have a relatively small budget of $90 million and be rushed into production to meet a strict summer deadline. Needless to say, not many people held out hope for the flick.
But when Rise finally came out this past summer, it instantly became a big-budget classic, and most of its success can be traced back to Caesar himself. Composed completely inside of a computer, with Serkis providing the motion and facial acting on-set, Caesar is the most photorealistic CGI animal ever put on screen, and makes his co-star, James Franco, look like an amateur in comparison.
Throughout the film, Caesar effortlessly emotes anger, jealousy, joy, and quiet contemplation, without ever looking the least bit like a cartoon. Caesar is so full of life and personality throughout the film that it's easy to forget that he's not even real. But with the emotions that he stirs up during the course of the movie, it’s hard to say that he’s not.
2. TYRANNOSAURUS REX IN JURASSIC PARK (1993)
Combining advanced animatronics and state-of-the-art CGI, Jurassic Park’s main attraction was a mountainous T-Rex that would roam around the park terrorizing blonde-haired children and eating middle-aged lawyers while they sat on the can. The only way Steven Spielberg could have made the dinosaurs in this blockbuster look any more realistic is if he were to hop in a time machine with a liter of ether and drag a few drugged lizards back with him. Remember, the dude is pretty rich so we’re sure that he’s more than capable of that.
Considering the only other cinematic dinosaur around this time was Dino from the live-action Flintstones movie, Spielberg's T-Rex was easily the best prehistoric beast of the '90s. And for our money it still hasn't been topped; not even by the Jurassic Park sequels.
In the years since its debut, every on-screen dino has looked and sounded exactly like Spielberg's original T-Rex. From Peter Jackson's King Kong, to Fox's Terra Nova, every time you see a dinosaur on your TV or in the movie theater, chances are they still look at Jurassic Park for inspiration.
1. GOLLUM IN LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (2002) & RETURN OF THE KING (2003)
Simply the best. No animated character in the history of film has been so convincing in a live action movie quite like Gollum. Motion-captured by Andy Serkis, Gollum wasn’t an action hero, nor was he just used as comic relief; instead, he was a fully realized dramatic character with a heart and soul. He was always at odds with his own mind, and every ounce of that pain came through in the CGI performance.
Beautifully crafted by WETA Workshops, if Gollum wasn’t absolutely perfect, the Lord of the Rings franchise wouldn’t have worked. Thankfully, he shattered expectations and drew audiences in to Peter Jackson’s already epic trilogy. Up until that point, most CGI characters were very broad and fairly inconsequential to the overall plot of a movie, but Gollum was one of the first times that an entire story-arc revolved a completely digital character.
Gangly and grotesque, haunted and tortured, the perfection that is Gollum easily makes up for the awful CGI that we see in movies like G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Green Lantern. Nearly 10 years after his big screen debut, Gollum is still the standard-bearer of all animated characters, and it doesn’t look like he is going to be bumped off from that post any time soon.