20 Important CGI Flicks

Premiere Magazine released its "20 Benchmark Films in Computer Animation History" counted down the movies and shorts which, to author Steve Saito's mind, were crucial for CGI's development. I agreed with some and disagreed with others. Hence this list, which talks about the live action and animated films that gave computer graphics that little push.

12 - Jurassic Park (1993)

Once James Cameron broke out with 1991's T2, it was only a matter of time before Steven Spielberg, the other big name in summer blockbuster flicks, would go CGI. And the Beard did not disappoint.

Adapting Michael Crichton's novel for the big screen, Spielberg took the lessons learned while making such classic popcorn-fests like Jaws, E.T. and the Indiana Jones franchise and applied them to the story of reconstituted dinosaurs running amuck in a theme park. And, using a combination of animatronics and CGI, created a complex vision of carnivorous lizards munching on humans.

All the classic Spielberg elements are there: breathless anticipation (what monster just ripped that goat to shreds?), cute kids in peril, heart-stopping chase scenes and chills wrapped in dry wit (the disembodied arm landing on Laura Dern's shoulder). It all added up to a 16 ton blockbuster of a film that became the #1 grossing movie of all time, for a short time.

Fun Fact: Universal Pictures paid writer Michael Crichton $2 million for the rights to Jurassic Park before the novel was even published.

11 - Forrest Gump (1994)

Confession time: I never really liked this flick. The film didn't deserve nearly the attention it got, and Tom Hanks' performance as the slow-witted man who witnesses (and sometimes makes) history was just a little too cute for the room. Forrest Gump was the safe choice for AMPAS, who otherwise would have had to acknowledge the roaring success of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, which came out that same year and took the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

That said, Forrest Gump advanced the art of CGI by electronically placing Hanks' character alongside digitally-created images of John Lennon, and American presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. Special effects whiz Ken Ralston also created a flying feather, and electronically removed actor Gary Sinise's legs in post-production, making it look like his limbs were actually amputated. That earned the film a well-deserved Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Fun Fact: Forrest Gump was adapted from the Winston Groom novel of the same name. In the original contract, Groom waived his upfront fee in exchange for a percentage of the film's profits. However, when he requested his share of the $677 million worldwide take, Paramount refused, claiming that the film never actually made any money. Paramount then asked Groom for the movie rights to his sequel, Gump and Co., so they could film it as well. The author refused.

Apparently, the dispute between Groom and Paramount has been resolved, and Paramount now has the rights to the Forrest Gump sequel.

10 - Toy Story (1995)

Toy Story was the first, full-length CGI animated film ever released, and put Pixar on the map as the #1 CGI studio. The original tale of two rival toys learning to live with one another was crudely animated but, like all of Pixar's early work, is more than redeemed by the witty and touching screenplay.

Pixar, and director John Lasseter, received a special Oscar in 1996 "for the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film."

The flick also earned Best Music and Best Song Oscars for composer Randy Newman, plus a Best Original Screenplay for Lasseter, Joel Cohen, Pete Docter, Joe Ranft, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton and Joss Whedon.

Toy Story also spawned the even more successful Toy Story 2 in 1999, and the television spin-offs Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins. Toy Story 3 is scheduled for a 2010 theatrical release.

Fun Fact(s): In 2003, the Online Film Critics Society called Toy Story as the greatest animated film of all time. In 2005, the United States National Film Registry selected the flick for preservation in their archives. Toy Story was also ranked #99 on the American Film Institute's 10th Anniversary Edition of the 100 greatest American films of all time, one of only two animated films on the list. The other was Disney's first animated flick, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

9 - Titanic (1997)

Okay, forget about the hackneyed romance storyline, overheated dialogue, and the wince-inducing song from Celine Dion: Titanic brilliantly recreated one of the Twentieth Century's biggest disasters in CGI.

Due to massive cost overruns resulting in a $200 million budget, James Cameron's story about a doomed love affair aboard the doomed passenger liner was widely touted to be a disaster in the making. Instead, Titanic won eleven Academy awards and became the top-grossing film of all time, making $600 million at the North American box office.

Using a combination of models and computer generated imagery, Cameron and crew made a realistic vision of the last days of Titanic, with only minor flubs showing where details of the passenger liner had been created in CGI.

Fun Fact: After she nearly drowned, chipped an elbow bone and came down with the flu as a result of filming Titanic, star Kate Winslet decided she would never work with Cameron again, unless she was paid "a lot of money."

scene from Jurassic Park

Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump

Tom Hanks in Toy Story

Titanic poster

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