11 Films Where Creators Decided to Skimp on Special Effects, and Here’s What Happened

When new computer technology appeared at the end of the last century, the process of movie production changed completely. Directors of iconic blockbuster films realized that a new era had begun, and as a result, very few movies without special effects exist today, even in the drama category.

The Bright Side team decided to look back at famous movies where visual effects artists did some really funny things.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2, 2012

The famous vampire saga suffered quite a bit because of the over-the-top special effects: the graphics for some of the key elements of the franchise were far from perfect — and sometimes, downright terrible. An obvious example was with Renesmee, the child Edward and Bella had that was created completely with special effects. The glassy-eyed look and the overall unnatural appearance of the character didn’t make fans or critics very happy, and the film was nominated for 11 Golden Raspberry Awards.

Cats, 2019

The Broadway musical Cats was made to be a big blockbuster but turned out to be a massive flop despite the famous actors in the cast and super-modern computer effects. In 2020, the film won “Worst Film” at the Golden Raspberry Awards.

Avengers: Endgame, 2019

Avengers fans probably remember the scene with Brie Larson at the beginning of Avengers: Endgame. In it, the character is flying in space while her hair is moving. But the problem is, in space, there’s no air, which means no wind or movement.

The Mummy Returns, 2001

Many of us remember The Mummy franchise from our childhood. It was so incredibly popular that the creators of the first film decided to make The Mummy Returns. Even though one of the roles was played by Dwayne Johnson, the graphic designers still decided to tweak his looks with computer effects. It looks like the designers played a lot of computer games when they were kids. You can see the result of their work in the screenshot above.

Aladdin, 2019

The cartoon about the adventures of Aladdin was so popular in the ’90s that almost 30 years after the release of the original cartoon, Hollywood decided to make a musical based on the story. The movie adaptation got quite contradictory reviews from critics that didn’t like the CGI in the film along with the fact that the musical was a bit different from the original cartoon in terms of its story.

The Green Lantern, 2011

Ryan Reynolds’ role in The Green Lantern is hardly his claim to fame. 9 years after the release of the superhero film, the actor himself still laughs at the poor quality of the film’s CGI that was actively used. In fact, in one of the additional scenes in Deadpool, Reynolds goes back to the past to prevent himself from appearing in The Green Lantern.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2009

The cartoonish and somewhat ridiculous claws of the main character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine really disappointed fans of the famous franchise. And it’s hard to disagree with them since the budget of the film was $150 million, part of which should have been spent on better CGI experts.

Sonic the Hedgehog, 2020

For some reason, the graphic artists who worked on Sonic the Hedgehog decided to use human-like teeth on the animal. This detail almost sabotaged the release of the film. The face and the body proportions of this character really disappointed fans of the computer game and they even asked the creators to change the appearance of their favorite character. Their concerns were heard and the company spent $5 million on sharpening the appearance of Sonic the Hedgehog.

I Am Legend, 2007

Great acting by Will Smith and the adapted screenplay for I Am Legend allowed the film to win a lot of awards in different movie festivals. But critics and viewers still noticed the CGI flaws: the zombies in the film looked as if they were videogame characters.

X-Men: Apocalypse, 2016

X-Men: Apocalypse is the worst film of 2016, according to BBC. It’s probably due to low ratings and bad reviews that were left after witnessing the special effects in the film — some characters looked way too unrealistic.

Hulk, 2003

The comic books about Hulk are incredibly popular and the film should have been too, but something went wrong. Many viewers ignored the film because of how ridiculous the main character looked, despite the fact that a team of over 100 artists worked on it. However, creators still made a sequel for this film and released it in 2008. It was much more successful than the original movie.

What silly visual effects have you seen in famous movies? Tell us in the comment section below!