Ranking Every De-aging Movie Effect Ever
10. Johnny Depp (Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales)
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In the fifth installment of the Pirates franchise, audiences got to see a flashback sequence detailing how Jack Sparrow became a captain in the first place, condemning Javier Bardem's Salazar in the process.
For the sequence, the movie de-ages franchise veteran Johnny Depp substantially, and at first, it works stunningly. The first shot of the de-aged Depp is a near-flawless recreation of 21 Jump Street or A Nightmare on Elm Street-era Depp, with the digital artists making great use of archive footage.
But then he opens his mouth.
Not only is the voice just Depp's own but pitched-up to sound younger, the second his lips move, the entire effect falls to shambles. Everything about the lips, the chin, and the cheeks look inhuman in their movement. He even turns his face a different way as he speaks, and suddenly the lighting makes all of the skin on his face uber-shiny and uncomfortably smooth.
What started out as stunning at first, quickly dissolved into unwatchably awful territory, just like Depp's performances in these films.