10 Groundbreaking Movie Special Effects (That Aged TERRIBLY)

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was a massive deal upon its release since it was the first CGI film with photorealistic characters. It took so long to make the visuals look right, the development team had to redo the earliest visuals again to ensure they were on par with the latest rendered shots! After all the animation was completed, the footage was fed to a separate "render farm" where the textures were sharpened further.

It may have been an exhausting process but it was worth it since the visuals in The Spirits Within were considered indistinguishable from real life. People got so hyped by the movie's animation, there were rumours that digital performers could become commonplace in cinema. There was also speculation that the The Spirits Within's protagonist, Aki, could appear in other movies, alongside real actors.

But if you put the photorealistic characters beside actual people, it's clear the special effects aren't as seamless as they first appeared. (This is demonstrated on the DVD bonus feature where Aki interacts with the film crew.)

The visuals on the characters' facial expressions are excellent but it's clear the technology had yet to perfect certain features such as eyes, teeth, and hair, making most characters look soulless and creepy.