But perhaps the most incredible (and ageless) examples of visual effects in movies are those that seem both visually and viscerally real, and without drawing attention to themselves.
One of the most important examples in this latter canon is the 1993 film, Jurassic Park, based on Michael Crichton's bestselling novel about a theme park that genetically recreates extinct dinosaurs, who eventually run amok. The combined talents of director Steven Spielberg, co-writer David Koepp (along with Crichton), the visual effects teams headed by veteran Dennis Muren and consulted by Phil Tippett, and the special animatronic effects teams by the late Stan Winston, created one of the most jaw-dropping, amazing, and terrifying experiences at the movies. While there were key computer-animated shots of dinosaurs in the film (including the T-Rex's first appearance at a rainy paddock, and the velociraptors in a scary kitchen scene), there was a brilliant balance of animatronic replicas (not to mention tons of paleontologic research that went into bringing these characters to life) that made audiences and critics believe they were brought back to a world that existed "65 million years" ago.
In fact, this is one of the reasons the film was as successful as it was, and as any such film (even those that recreate moments in history) will be with audiences in theaters, in turn giving said film(s) respect and meaning. Otherwise, you're just overwhelming audiences and critics. In other words, Jurassic Park wasn't just about showcasing fantastical elements, but about making them look and seem real. (Check out this video for more analysis on the film's VFX.)
So now, in honor of the film's 25th anniversary, and this weekend's release of the anticipated sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, here are some other examples of believable and timeless visual effects in feature films from the last forty-plus years. And while I can't recommend some of these movies for certain content purposes, they are to be commended, nonetheless, for their technical and visual landmarks.
The combination of animated characters in a live-action environment had been done many times before (look at Mary Poppins and Pete's Dragon), but nowhere near to the extent of this creative and bizarre detective thriller-comedy. The cartoon characters (including the titular rabbit and stars from the Disney and Warner Brothers studios) not only cast real shadows, but also seem to carry real-world objects, smash through windows, and even drive real cars. Kudos to the special effects department, and to director Robert Zemeckis and animation director Richard Williams, for pushing the boundaries of filmmaking, both live-action and hand-drawn. (Read my retrospective review here.)
Speaking of Zemeckis, he has managed to push various filmmaking boundaries since his 1985 screenplay for Back to the Future (co-written with Bob Gale). He hit a career turn with this inspiring story, based on the novel of a mentally-challenged man who lives an extraordinary life, even encountering some famous figures along the way. Probably the most amazing feat (besides telling the irreplaceable-though-fictitious story of a man who goes from a leg-braced boy to a football star, a Vietnam war hero, a shrimp boat captain, and a nationally-renowned runner) is how the filmmakers inserted Tom Hanks into real archival footage of JFK, LBJ, Nixon, and John Lennon, with a few technical tweeks.
Following the critical and commercial success of 1995's Apollo 13 (considering the unforgettable shot of the famous rocketship launching into space), James Cameron's big-screen adaptation of the "unsinkable" Titanic's maiden voyage and tragic sinking made even bigger waves (if you'll pardon the expression). Love the film or hate it, I think we can all agree that seeing visual images of the Titanic, before and after its collision with the iceberg (including actual underwater footage of the ship itself, shot and observed by Cameron) is absolutely breathtaking and captivating. (Watch this TEDTalk from visual effects supervisor Rob Legato if you don't believe me.)
This adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated story from director David Fincher and Forrest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth is carried not only by Brad Pitt's incredible performance, but also by a team of effects artists who thoroughly make us believe that Pitt's character is seamlessly aging backwards. (Digital effects artist Ed Ulbrich explains the years-long process of this film in this intriguing TEDTalk.)
While it's easy to say that most of the animation and effects seen in Marvel movies (and superhero movies, in general) is easy to call fake, that wasn't so much the case with this game-changing action feature that kickstarted the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it today. Jon Favreau's direction and Robert Downey Jr.'s charisma carry the emotional and thematic journey of Tony Stark, but its the effects teams (including the last Stan Winston as a consultant) that blend real-life replicas of Stark's Iron Man armor seamlessly with digital counterparts. Here's a case where audiences and critics can't tell at times where one leaves off and the other picks up. Most of all, this is the Iron Man/Tony Stark we should know and love.
Just about everything that Pixar Animation Studios does is genuine and universal. But their work on the title character and feature-length original story of WALL*E (particularly the first 45 minutes) is some of the most photo-realistic computer animation ever created for film. The hazy sun rays. The dust. The whole wasteland environment of earth. Yes, it's a bleak setting. But it's the sole robot who dwells there (along with a cockroach friend) that gives the place another life. The endearing bot's cube-like complexion, his rolling wheels, and his expressive eyes carry a new meaning of being a "window to the soul".
While director Alfonso Cauron received deserved recognition and accolades for his landmark work on 2013's Gravity (a great example of why we go to the movies), I ultimately went with this more challenging and haunting space-travel adventure from director Christopher Nolan. While Cauron's film focused on Sandra Bullock attempting to return to earth, Nolan's film (based on the works of theoretical physicist Kip Thorne) used old-fashioned techniques a la 1970s science-fiction blockbusters (real sets, real locations) to tell the story of a dying earth, and a team of remaining NASA astronauts who journey through the galaxy (and a wormhole, brought to visual life from Thorne's writings) to find another world for the remaining citizens of earth.
Two words: Andy Serkis. First known around the world as the voice and performance of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), Serkis has become synonymous with the ever-growing technology known as motion-capture. (Basically, it's computer animation that captures a live-action performance in real-time and transfers it to a digital character, which I'll let Serkis himself tell you more about here.) Serkis did this again in Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong. Even filmmakers like Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, and Gore Verbinski got acquainted with the technology, before James Cameron ultimately took it on for his ambitious and record-breaking Avatar. But Serkis has my vote for continually moving audiences and critics with his feature-film performances, post-spandex-and-dots. His greatest achievement, by far, would have to be the rebooted Planet of the Apes films (2011's Rise, 2014's Dawn, 2017's War), as the titular ape Caesar, who goes from a caged zoo animal to the leader of a primate revolt against a virus-stricken humanity. To quote (with a bit of irony) DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, "It's not evolutionary, it's revolutionary."
