10 Best CGI Movie Characters Ever

7. Davy Jones - Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

davy jones chest pirates of the caribbean
disney

First appearing in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie – 2006’s Dead Man’s Chest – Davy Jones managed to do what all great CGI characters should do. He had you second guessing whether or not this really was a computer-generated being.

At first glance – and even to this day – many would presume that Bill Nighy’s Davy Jones was a creation of practical effects and prosthetics. There’s that sense of physical realism to Davy that has you thinking of classics such as The Thing and Alien, and there’s not even the slightest whiff of shoddy CGI to the character.

You have to remember that this is a movie that was released back in 2006, which was a time where CGI was still finding its feet and often churning out some truly horrendous sights. But to the credit of those involved in Dead Man’s Chest, Davy Jones looks just as breathtakingly brilliant today as the character did 13 years ago.

Industrial Light and Magic was rightly awarded an Academy Award in 2006 for its work on Dead Man’s Chest, and a large part of that recognition was down to the sheer brilliance of what the company had done with Davy Jones.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.