say what you will about CGI but it’s
revolutionized the way movies look sure
you’re making all of this welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 visually
stunning films for this list we’ve
looked at films that feature CGI in key
scenes to create the movies atmosphere
look and feel which means as long as
they’re beautiful and use
computer-generated imagery they’re
eligible for this list number 10 300
basing their film on a Frank Miller
comic book series of the same name the
production team behind this movie set
out to make it look as bold and graphic
as it appears on paper it does look like
rain they more than accomplished this
feat and match the comic almost panel by
panel by filming largely in front of a
blue screen and filling in the
backgrounds later using CGI the clumsy
beasts
after principal shooting ended 300 was
in post-production for almost a year but
the time and effort definitely paid off
number nine the matrix have you ever had
a dream neo that you were so sure was
real what if you were able to wake from
them dream what would a future where
humans are batteries and reality is
nothing more than a computer simulation
look like the Wachowski answered that
question in their second feature the
first of this iconic sci-fi franchise
drawing inspiration from anime and
martial arts movies they designed a
mind-blowing realm where CGI amplified
the action making it seem at once real
and unreal
and while later wachowski films like
Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas also
thrilled with their visuals there’s no
beating the original matrix and its
groundbreaking bullet time effects
maybe I’m not in your heaven after all
girl maybe you’re in mine number eight
what dreams may come can you see me now
say you doc why are you so blurred
hockey Claire when you want me to Chris
the movie may have earned mixed reviews
but even naysayers couldn’t deny the
excellence of Vincent Ward’s visuals
following soulmates Robin Williams and
Annabella Shara from Earth to the
afterlife
what dreams may come is rich with
vibrant colors and picturesque
landscapes with the imagery of heaven
resembling a dream and hell serving as a
stark contrast winning the Oscar for
Best Visual Effects it’s also one of the
only movies to be filmed using Fuji
Velvia film which gave it its smooth
finish and vivid colors why are they
going they’re going to help others be
reborn on earth reincarnation number
seven inception
every dime of its 160 million dollar
budget was accounted for in this
Christopher Nolan production actually in
the middle of the workshop right now
sleeping this is your first lesson in
shared mainly it’s very common when
inventing a world where the subconscious
can be infiltrated through dreams and
entire worlds can be created and altered
with the mind the director consciously
limited the use of cgi to avoid
overpowering the film’s visuals instead
filming at locations around the world
using practical effects drop you at up
gravity and his technique worked by
using cgi Tastefully reality really
contrasted with the fight and dream
sequences creating a successful movie
that earned 826 million dollars at the
box office something this number six
Jurassic Park
just because they weren’t resurrected
using complicated science as they were
in the movie doesn’t make the
achievement of bringing dinosaurs into
today’s world any less spectacular it’s
it’s dinosaur besides stan winston’s
lifelike animatronic creatures stand
Industrial Light and Magic sprout
braking effects but signaled a
revolution in filmmaking and still look
lifelike decades after the film’s
release in real time director Steven
Spielberg postulated that without an
impressive first reveal his movie would
fail but the first time we see the
dinosaurs we know were in for one wild
magical and visually stunning ride
number five Tron Legacy
building on the success and beauty of
its 1982 predecessor this sequels
visuals are futuristic sleek and sexy
creating a fictional world inside a
computer system that looked and felt
real the movie’s effects took nearly two
years to complete with 10 companies
contributing to the effort to ground the
CGI effects in reality the set design
team used real materials like glass
concrete and steel but what was perhaps
most impressive was the Jeff Bridges was
digitally altered to look decades
younger the conditions were right and it
came into being and more similar to his
1982 appearance
come on come on number 4 Life of Pi
based on Yann Martel’s novel of the same
name this live-action computer animated
film depended heavily on 3d and CGI to
bring to vivid life the various animals
the protagonist meets while drifting at
sea setting out to explore the beauty of
nature and natural wonders it coupled
real locations with visual effects to
create the gorgeous scenery and somehow
make the ocean its own character
Life of Pi is thought to be the perfect
balance of Technology and natural
wonders and it’s highlighted as a poetic
force of cinema number three the Lord of
the Rings The Return of the King shut
now you must die Peter Jackson’s vision
of JRR Tolkien’s world was perfected in
the trilogy’s last film leaving
audiences with a lasting impression of
middle-earth Jackson was conscious in
his use of cgi preferring to use New
Zealand’s natural landscape whenever
possible but this film contains the most
visual effects of the trilogy with
nearly three times the amount of the
first and twice the amount of the second
and whether the CGI is bringing us a
giant spider a massive army or a lasting
villain it’s executed with expert
precision
number two Avatar who’d you expect
numbnuts this film was director James
Cameron’s labor of love since 1994 but
he knew that in order to do the story
justice he would have to wait for the
proper technology to be created the
deputy was gone
Cameron used his estimated 2 to 300
million dollar budget to use motion
capture photography and cutting-edge CGI
techniques to create his non-existent
creatures and the beautiful fictional
world of Pandora this is a place for
prayers to be heard and sometimes ends
his patience paid off and the film
became not only a groundbreaker in terms
of effects but also the highest grossing
film ever
beating out Titanic another Cameron film
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
number one gravity you should I have a
bad feeling about this mission director
Alfonso Cuaron captured the vastness and
beauty of space like no one before him
combining thrilling effects with an
equally thrilling story and performances
he tracks two astronauts as they go
about their work far away from Earth I
never got to land the simulator I told
you but you know about it and I crashed
it with every time I go back or do you
want to stay here as Sandra Bullock
floats through space the audience is
treated to a visual feast as she’s a
ejected from one spacecraft to another
and credit must be given to Framestore
the uk-based special effects company
that did the majority of the film’s
visuals after all their work helped win
seven Oscars admit one thing
can’t beat the view do you agree with
our list which CGI movie made an
impression on you for more stunning top
10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
you
revolutionized the way movies look sure
you’re making all of this welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 visually
stunning films for this list we’ve
looked at films that feature CGI in key
scenes to create the movies atmosphere
look and feel which means as long as
they’re beautiful and use
computer-generated imagery they’re
eligible for this list number 10 300
basing their film on a Frank Miller
comic book series of the same name the
production team behind this movie set
out to make it look as bold and graphic
as it appears on paper it does look like
rain they more than accomplished this
feat and match the comic almost panel by
panel by filming largely in front of a
blue screen and filling in the
backgrounds later using CGI the clumsy
beasts
after principal shooting ended 300 was
in post-production for almost a year but
the time and effort definitely paid off
number nine the matrix have you ever had
a dream neo that you were so sure was
real what if you were able to wake from
them dream what would a future where
humans are batteries and reality is
nothing more than a computer simulation
look like the Wachowski answered that
question in their second feature the
first of this iconic sci-fi franchise
drawing inspiration from anime and
martial arts movies they designed a
mind-blowing realm where CGI amplified
the action making it seem at once real
and unreal
and while later wachowski films like
Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas also
thrilled with their visuals there’s no
beating the original matrix and its
groundbreaking bullet time effects
maybe I’m not in your heaven after all
girl maybe you’re in mine number eight
what dreams may come can you see me now
say you doc why are you so blurred
hockey Claire when you want me to Chris
the movie may have earned mixed reviews
but even naysayers couldn’t deny the
excellence of Vincent Ward’s visuals
following soulmates Robin Williams and
Annabella Shara from Earth to the
afterlife
what dreams may come is rich with
vibrant colors and picturesque
landscapes with the imagery of heaven
resembling a dream and hell serving as a
stark contrast winning the Oscar for
Best Visual Effects it’s also one of the
only movies to be filmed using Fuji
Velvia film which gave it its smooth
finish and vivid colors why are they
going they’re going to help others be
reborn on earth reincarnation number
seven inception
every dime of its 160 million dollar
budget was accounted for in this
Christopher Nolan production actually in
the middle of the workshop right now
sleeping this is your first lesson in
shared mainly it’s very common when
inventing a world where the subconscious
can be infiltrated through dreams and
entire worlds can be created and altered
with the mind the director consciously
limited the use of cgi to avoid
overpowering the film’s visuals instead
filming at locations around the world
using practical effects drop you at up
gravity and his technique worked by
using cgi Tastefully reality really
contrasted with the fight and dream
sequences creating a successful movie
that earned 826 million dollars at the
box office something this number six
Jurassic Park
just because they weren’t resurrected
using complicated science as they were
in the movie doesn’t make the
achievement of bringing dinosaurs into
today’s world any less spectacular it’s
it’s dinosaur besides stan winston’s
lifelike animatronic creatures stand
Industrial Light and Magic sprout
braking effects but signaled a
revolution in filmmaking and still look
lifelike decades after the film’s
release in real time director Steven
Spielberg postulated that without an
impressive first reveal his movie would
fail but the first time we see the
dinosaurs we know were in for one wild
magical and visually stunning ride
number five Tron Legacy
building on the success and beauty of
its 1982 predecessor this sequels
visuals are futuristic sleek and sexy
creating a fictional world inside a
computer system that looked and felt
real the movie’s effects took nearly two
years to complete with 10 companies
contributing to the effort to ground the
CGI effects in reality the set design
team used real materials like glass
concrete and steel but what was perhaps
most impressive was the Jeff Bridges was
digitally altered to look decades
younger the conditions were right and it
came into being and more similar to his
1982 appearance
come on come on number 4 Life of Pi
based on Yann Martel’s novel of the same
name this live-action computer animated
film depended heavily on 3d and CGI to
bring to vivid life the various animals
the protagonist meets while drifting at
sea setting out to explore the beauty of
nature and natural wonders it coupled
real locations with visual effects to
create the gorgeous scenery and somehow
make the ocean its own character
Life of Pi is thought to be the perfect
balance of Technology and natural
wonders and it’s highlighted as a poetic
force of cinema number three the Lord of
the Rings The Return of the King shut
now you must die Peter Jackson’s vision
of JRR Tolkien’s world was perfected in
the trilogy’s last film leaving
audiences with a lasting impression of
middle-earth Jackson was conscious in
his use of cgi preferring to use New
Zealand’s natural landscape whenever
possible but this film contains the most
visual effects of the trilogy with
nearly three times the amount of the
first and twice the amount of the second
and whether the CGI is bringing us a
giant spider a massive army or a lasting
villain it’s executed with expert
precision
number two Avatar who’d you expect
numbnuts this film was director James
Cameron’s labor of love since 1994 but
he knew that in order to do the story
justice he would have to wait for the
proper technology to be created the
deputy was gone
Cameron used his estimated 2 to 300
million dollar budget to use motion
capture photography and cutting-edge CGI
techniques to create his non-existent
creatures and the beautiful fictional
world of Pandora this is a place for
prayers to be heard and sometimes ends
his patience paid off and the film
became not only a groundbreaker in terms
of effects but also the highest grossing
film ever
beating out Titanic another Cameron film
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
number one gravity you should I have a
bad feeling about this mission director
Alfonso Cuaron captured the vastness and
beauty of space like no one before him
combining thrilling effects with an
equally thrilling story and performances
he tracks two astronauts as they go
about their work far away from Earth I
never got to land the simulator I told
you but you know about it and I crashed
it with every time I go back or do you
want to stay here as Sandra Bullock
floats through space the audience is
treated to a visual feast as she’s a
ejected from one spacecraft to another
and credit must be given to Framestore
the uk-based special effects company
that did the majority of the film’s
visuals after all their work helped win
seven Oscars admit one thing
can’t beat the view do you agree with
our list which CGI movie made an
impression on you for more stunning top
10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
you
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