10 Weirdly Distracting Moments In Recent Movies

While certain sequels manage to avoid some of the pitfalls of a film releasing decades after the original, Gladiator II did not. There was the predictable familial tie back to the original, the striking similarities in plots, and of course, it did everything it could do to go bigger and bolder than what came 20 years prior.

This was true of the animals involved. While Maximus (Russell Crowe) tussled with tigers in the original movie, Paul Mescal's Lucius found himself going up against baboons, rhinos, and sharks, and the CGI used to bring them to life just didn't fit with the rest of the film.

Even a director who prides themselves on practical effects as much as Ridley Scott has to be realistic with what they can achieve, and so there were far more visual effects utilised in Gladiator II than in the original. Paul Mescal wasn't about to bite a real baboon, after all, and there certainly weren't going to be any real rhinos or sharks brought onto set.

However, even with a huge budget to spend, the effects on the animals looked subpar to say the least, in particular the baboons. Their screaming and shrieking were reminiscent of something from Van Helsing, which didn't exactly light the world on fire with its outstanding CGI back in 2004.