9 Almost-Great Movie Moments Ruined By Shoddy CGI

7. The Twist - The Illusionist

For an art so heavily based upon genuine actions and human perception, recent magician movies have relied too heavy on digitally enhanced showmanship. Obviously it should look impressive, but if, like Now You See Me earlier, you lean too much on a computer you loose the point of what should be a grounded illusion.

The Prestige obviously used completely fantastical (and CG enhanced) science for its final act (where, and I'm simplifying here, it's revealed there is actual magic), but there it tied directly into the film's themes. Its sister film, released mere months before Nolan's, didn't manage the same brilliance.

The Illusionist was an interesting enough mystery thriller, but in going for the opposite twist to Prestige (here all the tricks were mechanisms), the pressure was on director Neil Burger to make everything feel like it fit in our world.

As you can see from the above image, he didn't really succeed. If you're saying everything's real only to try and prove it with unreal effects, audiences are going to feel more than a little cheated.