7 Best CGI Movies That Changed the Game

Seventh on our list of best CGI movies is Life of Pi, following a young Indian boy nicknamed Pi and a Bengal tiger as they drift in the Pacific Ocean. Winning an Oscar, the CGI was instrumental in making this film a hit. One of the most impressive feats, of course, was the creation of Richard Parker, a fully computer-generated tiger that fooled many viewers into believing it was real. Along with stunning visuals, Life of Pi set the tone for emotion garnered from CGI.

–IMDb score: 7.9

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Next up on our list of best CGI movies is War for the Planet of the Apes, which was nominated for Best Visual Effects. The film centers on Caesar and his journey of vengeance that tests his morals of peace and unity. In terms of CGI, the film is a masterclass in motion capture and digital artistry. Each ape is rendered with microscopic details, from their faces to the way their fur blows in the breeze. Combined with the motion capture technology by Weta Digital, the movie is an impressive feat.

–IMDb score: 7.4

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Ranking fifth on our list of best CGI movies is Davy Jones himself from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Bringing back all the main characters from the first film, the true CGI masterpiece is Davy Jones. With work from Industrial Light & Magic, they transformed Bill Nighy into a tentacled menace, complete with slimy tentacles to his barnacled-encrusted form. The CGI was so good that several reviewers mistook the tentacles for prosthetics.

–IMDb score: 7.4

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We could have put both films on the list, but Avatar: The Way of Water takes the best CGI movies to the next level. The film takes place several years after the first, with the Sully family leaving their home to escape Avatar Quaritch. Winning Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards, the film set a new benchmark for CGI. Creating a groundbreaking motion capture technology specifically for underwater sequences, fans debated on whether the effects were practical or digital.

–IMDb score: 7.5

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Rounding out the top three best CGI movies is Jurassic Park, filled with dinosaurs galore. It was ambitious to create a dinosaur film in the 1990s, but the film managed to knock it out of the park and won the Best Visual Effects Oscar in 1994. By combining ILM’s CGI with Stan Winston’s animatronic dinosaurs, the creatures were brought to life. While there was only a total of 15 minutes of the film with dinosaurs, it still managed to prove CGI was a powerful tool for filmmaking.

–IMDb score: 8.2

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Second on our list of best CGI movies is The Matrix, a dystopian world filled with machines and simulated reality. The CGI in the film redefined visual effects, introducing techniques widely applied to future movies. One of the most ground-breaking scenes is the “bullet time” effect, where Neo dodges bullets in slow motion. Achieved by placing multiple cameras around the actor, it continues to influence viewers.

–IMDb score: 8.7

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Last but not least on our best CGI movies list is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. While all three films were incredible, The Fellowship of the Ring was the first to stun viewers. The groundbreaking visual effects from Weta Digital brought Middle-earth to life from the incredible landscapes to characters like Gollum. Weta also developed MASSIVE for the film, a crowd-simulation software. This was key in epic battles like Helm’s Deep where every soldier moved uniquely.

–IMDb score: 8.9

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