10 Terrible CGI Moments in High-Budget Movies

7. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - Legolas vs. Mumakil (2003)

http://youtu.be/9nMROTi90hA This one's particularly embarrassing given the shedload of Oscars - including Best Picture and Visual Effects - that Peter Jackson's series-capping opus collected. From the second Legolas (Orlando Bloom) leaps to mount a Mumakil, everything is just wrong, and it's largely down to physics. If you can get past the insanity of Legolas being able to hold onto the Mumakil during those violent thrashings around, the blurry, scarcely comprehensible definition of his character's animation still proves troublesome. Note as he runs along the beast, it has less a feel of mo-cap and more of a bouncy, weightless leap that was rendered by artists on the fly. As he climbs up the rear of the monster, it feels more like we're watching a boss fight in a video game than something that is supposed to be cinematic and real. Some of the near-close-ups of Legolas are also tough to watch; his face has no definition or character, and when juxtaposed with the actual actors he is intercut with during the fight, it seems all the less convincing. Finally, the slide down the downed Mumakil looks horribly awkward. It's just a good thing that this sequence is so brief, such that Oscar votes could quickly nudge it to the back of their minds.