10 Worst Movie CGI Of 2020
7. The Dog - The Call Of The Wild
Yes, believe it or not, that film starring Harrison Ford and a CGI dog came out this year. 2020 truly is a time vortex.
The Call of the Wild is an interesting case because, in pure technical terms, its digital recreation of adorable sled dog Buck is pretty impressive - animals are notoriously difficult to get right, and in a freeze-frame, it looks mostly passable.
But when Buck has to move and emote like a real dog, that's where the problems come in, causing the well-intentioned family adventure film to dive headlong into the dreaded uncanny valley.
Though nobody's saying the film should've put a real dog in mortal peril, making Buck CGI even in scenes where he's doing nothing dangerous was a huge, distracting mistake.
Despite Ford's solid attempt to convince us that he's acting opposite a real canine, it's tough to forget that we're watching a fabrication, ensuring that the crucial bond between man and dog never rises above feeling totally artificial.
Clearly, the production should've filmed the safe scenes - of which there are many - with a real dog, and used a digital stand-in for the action sequences.
Beyond how uneasy the CGI dog is, its appearance in practically every scene no doubt helped bloat the film's budget to a ludicrous $150 million. Yikes.