Summary

• Movies from decades ago like Star Wars and Harry Potter showcase special effects that hold up today.
• These classic films demonstrate that quality CGI is more impactful than quantity.
• CGI in older hits like Jurassic Park and The Lord of the Rings are still highly regarded for their realism.

Several movies that came out decades ago have CGI that holds up well and still looks good by today's standards. Once, even one scene including a mythical monster or a super-powered protagonist comprised a huge challenge for filmmakers. Scenes like this in classic sci-fi and fantasy movies represent groundbreaking moments in the evolution of special effects. Other movies were inspired aesthetically by these scenes, or simply to further develop their own CGI once they knew what was possible.

On the other hand, many movies today, particularly within the superhero genre, are overwhelmed with CGI. As a result, most of it looks fake and none of it is impactful. Then, when movie fans and creatives revisit some older hits, they realize that the allegedly dated special effects still as good in the modern day. Some of these movies demonstrate that it is not the quantity of the effects that counts, but the quality and how they are utilized by the story.

10 Star Wars (1977)

The spaceships, lightsabers, and blaster beams are perfect.

Star Wars is known as the penultimate sci-fi and space adventure movie, because of its effects as well as its story.

Star Wars is known as the penultimate sci-fi and space adventure movie, because of its effects as well as its story. Space battle sequences were captured with some simple, practical tricks: models of the Death Star and other ships were used to create wide shots while the actors were filmed sitting in cockpit "sets." Everything was edited together for believable, now-famous action sequences.

The strictly computer-generated effects are ittedly somewhat stilted when compared to the later Star Wars films, but they still look decent. George Lucas and his team innovated to create beams coming from futuristic blaster guns, explosions happening in space, and the lightsaber plasma blades that became iconic. Although the Star Wars prequel trilogy introduced smoother and sleeker versions of these weapons and vehicles, fans maintain a fondness for the retro aesthetics, which are alluded to in the sequel trilogy.

9 Starship Troopers (1997)

The alien bugs are a highlight of Starship Troopers.

Special effects master Phil Tippett is known for his work on Jurassic Park and Starship Troopers. However, he told Starship Troopers condemns fascism by depicting a corrupt and highly militaristic society. However, Tippett and others helped make Starship Troopers visually interesting, for a well-rounded movie experience.

The crowds of moving alien bugs in Starship Troopers recall scenes from The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, making good use of the masses to hide any rendering shortcuts. However, the up-close designs of the bugs are still interesting, creepy, and not too tacky. The Starship Trooper bugs are even contenders for having the most unique conceptualization for aliens in any sci-fi movie.

8 Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

The first Wizarding World movie nails the magic right away.

The Harry Potter franchise is dependent on CGI to create fantastic beasts and beams of magic throughout its eight movies. However, even in the first movie, the special effects are reliable in rendering the most characteristic aspects of the Wizarding World. The spells themselves are relatively simple when the most that is ever seen is a flash of light, and occasionally a floating object that could be done with practical effects as well as CGI.

However, the more complicated elements of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone look just as good now as when it first came out, including Hagrid's dog Fluffy, Voldemort's face on the back of Professor Quirrell's head, and the ghosts of Hogwarts. It is telling that in the final movie, the ghosts retain the style of the first, despite the team having more advanced technology at their disposal. They stick to the original concepts of the Hogwarts setting because there is no reason to improve them when they still look magical.

7 Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989)

The Last Crusade improves upon the effects of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has the least computer-generated effects of all the movies in the Indiana Jones timeline, but it still stands out in this regard. The only major scene with CGI is when Elsa Schneider "chooses poorly" when picking a Holy Grail for Walter Donovan to try, resulting in Donovan deteriorating into a corpse before turning to dust. In addition to being another notable moment in the history of special effects, this moment recalls another, earlier Indiana Jones scene.

The famous scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where the Nazis open the Ark of the Covenant has stood the test of time as a toe-curling sequence. However, the flashes of light and swirling spirits do have the appearance of earlier CGI. In contrast, the less "magical" death of Donovan where he simply dissolves demonstrates slightly more advanced computer technology.

6 The Abyss (1989)

The Abyss is praised for its underwater and alien effects.

The deep-dive horror movie The Abyss is recognized as James Cameron's first outing with then-modern computer-generated effects, having primarily used practical effects in his previous blockbusters. Only recently, Cameron discussed submarine technology in a BTS clip for The Abyss. Much of the movie was filmed underwater, a style Cameron would return to with Avatar: The Way of Water more than 30 years later.

Another influential, still-stunning CGI moment to come out of The Abyss was the rendering of the water alien the main characters come across at the bottom of the ocean. After The Abyss, Cameron's movies became synonymous with groundbreaking special effects. The success of The Abyss, earning an Oscar for Best Special Effects, is partially responsible for several subsequent milestone movies in the history of cinema. This is unsurprising, given that the water alien would not be out of place in a modern movie.

5 Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003)

The Curse of the Black Pearl showcases the future of CGI.

The flagship movie of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise stands at the precipice of what would be considered modern CGI, but what is achieved is still impressive for its time. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl does not claim too many of all the plot holes throughout the five Pirates of the Caribbean movies because its supernatural story elements are minimal. Building on the work of other then-recent CGI masterpieces, the Disney action adventure created a lot of thrill and intrigue with a crew of undead pirates.

Curse of the Black Pearl does not overdo it with the special effects, inserting the zombie pirates into real settings. However, the effects are still amazing in their own right. The crew of the Black Pearl are ghostly and look real enough for the movie they are in. In contrast, the later Pirates of the Caribbean movies are too reliant on special effects and cinematography tricks, a far cry from the once-detailed CGI and fight sequences.

4 Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park stunned audiences with on-screen dinosaurs.

Relatively little CGI was used to create the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, with the final result comprising both animatronics and computer effects. Steven Spielberg, a seasoned director who was perfectly comfortable with practical effects, originally intended to capture all the dinosaurs with models and life-size robotics. However, as expensive as CGI may have been at the time, fully functioning dinosaur animatronics cost more and this plan was abandoned due to expenses.

The Triceratops and Raptors are mostly puppets, while parts of the famous Jurassic Park T-Rex are animatronics. However, CGI was necessary to create wider shots showing the T-Rex's full range of motion. Spielberg was skeptical ing CGI but relented when he saw test footage, resulting in effective computer graphics that are preferable to the sheer number of dinosaurs in Jurassic World. Jurassic Park also used CGI for some of the wide shots of many dinosaurs, as many individual models would not have been practical.

3 The Matrix (1999)

The Matrix's most famous scenes set the bar for CGI in the 2000s.

The Matrix is a genre-defining film that heralded the advanced CGI and choreography of early 2000s action movies.

While the infamous best CGI scenes in The Matrix are like Bullet Time in the sense that they are not 100% computer-generated, but special effects are doubtlessly used to augment them.

For instance, the famous lobby shoot-out effectively uses CGI for its slow-motion destruction and possibly some stunts — it is not always clear which is which. A similar blend of CGI and practical effects characterizes other famous Matrix scenes, such as the freeway chase scene in Reloaded. Overall, The Matrix is a genre-defining film that heralded the advanced CGI and choreography of early 2000s action movies.

2 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

The best Terminator movie is the first one dependent on CGI.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is regarded as a huge moment for CGI because of its high-speed chase scenes, liquid metal Terminators, and the new abilities demonstrated by Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator. The scenes of the liquid metal Terminator do look somewhat dated, but not necessarily bad. The motorcycle chase scene, on the other hand, would not look better if it were produced today.

Overall, most of the effects from the Terminator franchise still look great, despite being decades old. Terminator 2 in particular marks another Oscar win for Best Special Effects in a Cameron movie. Furthermore, these effects had a massive impact on Hollywood. Cameron went on to push the envelope with special effects in other movies, namely Avatar. On the other hand, Terminator inspired other revolutionary sci-fi movies of the 1990s and early 2000s.

1 The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)

The Lord of the Rings trilogy's effects will always hold up.

The green-screen settings and massive CGI armies in the Hobbit trilogy all look fake, with a cloying, computer quality. However, the Lord of the Rings trilogy used practical effects where it could for a better balance with the CGI. The CGI itself still looks great, capturing monsters, magic, and some elements of Middle Earth’s different locations.

Perhaps the best demonstration of these special effects is Gandalf’s fight with the Balrog. Even with pre-2001 technology, Peter Jackson and his team created a fiery monster that looks magnificent. The most famous instance of CGI innovation from Lord of the Rings is the creation of Gollum, who only appears briefly in the first movie. The special effects from Lord of the Rings and other movies like it pushed the industry forward, but can still compete with modern CGI.

Source: Cinema Blend