The Best CGI Films in Recent Memory... And more

[Mynameisdean]

With how we are ripping apart movies over in the Worst CGI movies thread, I thought maybe we could share our favorite CGI movies. I'll start.

Well, my favorite is WALL-E. A well done movie. It felt like Pixar put a ton of effort into this movie, and it turned out so well. It's funny, and it's views on our world and out dependence of sorts on technology, and I'll throw in obesity, are even more relevant here in 2016. How about you guys?

 

[D'Snowth]

I can agree, WALL*E is a virtual showcase of Pixar eye candy, and has some of the most beautiful animation I've ever seen: you really can't go wrong when you set an animated adventure in space . . . same with FINDING NEMO for it's time: the underwater animation was absolutely stunning.

THE PEANUTS MOVIE was the most recent CGI movie I saw, and it was simply wonderful - so respectful to the franchise (especially considering that the Schulz family was heavily involved), and it was great to see good ol' Chuck come out the winner in his own story for once. It was even heartwarming to see Snoopy be a little more affectionate rather than his usual cool and aloof self (though that's what made Snoopy funny in the past).

 

[Drtooth]

Peanuts was a gorgeous film because they went a more experimental route with the CGI. They gave it some sort of CGI + Traditional Animation + Craig Bartlett style top down stop motion (as opposed to 3-D stop motion with larger puppets) look to the film. And the end result was pretty unique and wonderful. It's a shame that they were only licensed to do that one movie and there's too much red tape to get another Peanuts story off the ground. But the film was able to condense the same Peanuts schtick into a good, working film, all while managing to make the ending happy and hopeful. I mean, how many Peanuts specials ended with either Charlie or another character ranting bout how regretful they are at the end? When the only wins Charlie Brown really got was the Valentines Day when he got a reused Valentine out of guilt and accepted it with gusto? They managed to make a happier, more fitting ending to Charlie Brown than the comics actually did, but without ruining the tone of the original series. A fantastic film.

But I do love me some experimental CGI animation. When we got the first batch of CGI films, you have to admit, they were pretty stiff. The Shrek films were made hyper realistic and kinda pastel looking for example. I have to say, if there's one film I'd credit towards changing the face of what CGI animation looked like, it's Madagascar. Now, I love the franchise for some reason, the Penguins and their spinoffs moreso. While I certainly won't call it the greatest CGI film taking away my bias, the film was the first (if not one of the first) to introduce squash and stretch into CGI animated movies. Something Sony pretty much specializes in now (I'll admit their films since Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are good looking). And I'd especially credit Pixar's The Incredibles in finding a magical way to stylize humans in CGI so they look quite good. And studios have been pretty much copying that style ever since.

 

[mr3urious]

But I do love me some experimental CGI animation. When we got the first batch of CGI films, you have to admit, they were pretty stiff. The Shrek films were made hyper realistic and kinda pastel looking for example. I have to say, if there's one film I'd credit towards changing the face of what CGI animation looked like, it's Madagascar. Now, I love the franchise for some reason, the Penguins and their spinoffs moreso. While I certainly won't call it the greatest CGI film taking away my bias, the film was the first (if not one of the first) to introduce squash and stretch into CGI animated movies. Something Sony pretty much specializes in now (I'll admit their films since Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are good looking). And I'd especially credit Pixar's The Incredibles in finding a magical way to stylize humans in CGI so they look quite good. And studios have been pretty much copying that style ever since.

I do like how we're seeing more experimental styles of computer animation in recent years. And I would love to see the Meander animation system (that 2D/3D hybrid style) used in Paperman and Feast get applied to a feature-length film.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

And I would love to see the Meander animation system (that 2D/3D hybrid style) used in Paperman and Feast get applied to a feature-length film.

That would be absolutely amazing!

 

[Drtooth]

I do like how we're seeing more experimental styles of computer animation in recent years. And I would love to see the Meander animation system (that 2D/3D hybrid style) used in Paperman and Feast get applied to a feature-length film.

I've seen some animated shows use a cel shaded CGI mimicking traditional looking animation. Sky Hawks, a Japanese series called "Freedom" (which I didn't pick up on until the second episode), the new Mysterious Cities of Gold series (though I've only seen it as a preview and don't know if more has come of it), and TF: Robots in Disguise. I'm sure with a bigger budget, this sort of thing would work better as a film.

 

[BlakeConor14]

The most recent cgi film I saw was the good dinosaur I thought it was fantastic but my favorite will always be toy story

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

The most recent cgi film I saw was the good dinosaur I thought it was fantastic but my favorite will always be toy story

Toy Story is one of my favorites as well.

 

[Drtooth]

I really liked Good Dinosaur, and I already posted thoughts on that somewhere else. I really wish that it got a better release date but HEY! We have to remind people that Toy Story came out that weekend, you know when there weren't like fifty companies doing lousy one shot CGI films. While I don't think it's Pixar's best work or one of the best CGI films in recent years, it's far from anything unlikable or unwatchable. In fact, I praise the film for not being something formulaic for Pixar, and while I do like Wall*E, I found it to be a better, simpler film. The whole simplicity of the DinoBoy and his pet Caveboy set in a Western parallel refreshing from either trying to make the most emotional film possible or trying to pander to the younger audiences Pixar films fall into. In fact, I also admire the fact that they cut out a crapload of characters to focus on a few. Something that I have to admit was Monsters U's problem. Too many characters, not enough time for them to shine.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

The Good Dinosaur certainly had it's charms, I especially loved the animation (which is basically what everyone seems to say about the movie),the two main characters were intriguing but overall it something about it seemed to lack but i'm not quite sure what it was. I know part of it was the unusually dark tone for a Pixar movie, that was just uncomfortable to sit through for instance when the pterodactyl ate the little creature that our main characters had originally saved. that didn't sit well with me. I know that part was supposed to be shocking and show how bad our villains are but I think because the story wasn't the best a lot of the dark moments come off as pointless and a bit cruel.
Even the ending seemed a bit depressing, I mean sure it was technically a happy ending,but still you'd think after all the psychological torture those kids went through they'd at least have something a bit less anti-climactic than "And then they all go home". We never really see how Arlo copes with the death of his father" besides him being depressed for a scene and than another where he hallucinates about him.

Plus to me most of the movie felt pretty boring and uneventful. One of my least favorite Pixar movies. I didn't hate it, I just didn't really like it.

That being said, it's still better than both the Cars movies.