10 Great Movies With Terrible CGI

The Hobbit did not live up to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. Nobody is going to deny that, nor did anyone think that could reasonably happen. But it doesn't change the fact Jackson crafted a satisfying trilogy in its own right. The action sequences in The Hobbit are innovative, the battle sequences are epic, and the performances are astounding, (especially Martin Freeman who feels like he was born to play Bilbo Baggins).

Even though LOTR set the bar unnaturally high in terms of special effects, you'd expect The Hobbit's visuals surpass it. Since technology had advanced over ten years and the prequels had over double the budget of its predecessor, how could The Hobbit's CGI not be out of this world?

Ironically, the visuals are the trilogy's biggest detriment. Everything looks so artificial, you can practically see the green-screen. Instead of using CGI to add to the spectacle, Jackson's crew here relied on the technology like a crutch, swashing every shot with a smorgasbord of cartoonish VFX.

This issue is extra noticeable when characters are substituted for CG doppelgängers. Because their bodies don't move in a natural way, you never believe they are really there for a second.