D'ya reckon special effects are getting too good?

[yello]

There's a "Birds" (i.e. Hitchcock not Liver) inspired French suspense/drama film on the tele at the moment. The special effects are very clean and sharp but somehow.... just wrong. It's got me to thinking.... is there such a thing as 'too good'?

One of the things that turned me off the new Dr Who was the all too whizzy special effects. Very very impressive but also somehow totally crap.

I'm not suggesting a return to Blakes' Seven, or even the original Dr Who but I do find the over reliance on the precision and creative possibilities of CGI just a little bit lazy.

 

[Fab Foodie]

+1
It can also be an excuse for poor plot and character development...

 

[Over The Hill]

I am in two minds-
Old war films with silly airfix models being blown up always spoil a film and they shatter the illusion.
Some go over the top now as they can do as much with live action as they did with cartoons so that can spoil it too.
Somehow the bar has been raised and when we look at things that were realistic at the time (Jaws springs to mind) that were really realistic at the time but now are really silly.

 

[Noodley]

...things that were realistic at the time (Jaws springs to mind) that were really realistic at the time but now are really silly.

OK, Jacques Cousteau...you jump into the water first...

 

[yello]

I think I'm in agreement oth. I genuinely like special effects when they don't detract; so the airfix model, or the 'boat in a swimming pool' do look really carp and stuff up the film for me. There's a certain appeal to bad effects but only really if they fit... I dunno though. Anything is now pretty much possible with cgi, but it still has to work and, for me anyway, it can be as equally carp as the airfix model! Despite how clever it might be.

 

[Chuffy]

The last few series of Red Dwarf. A classic case of money being hurled at something at it all going horribly wrong as a result.

 

[palinurus]

I think most CGI looks bollocks. Quite often things look pretty convincing but as soon as anything moves from one place to another the physics is just all wrong. This is particularly evident with car-related stunts etc. Get stuntmen back into cars and start crippling them again.

 

[cisamcgu]

Not special effects as such, but modern animated films are stunning. The first part of Wall-E, when he was trundling around on the deserted Earth was a masterpiece of the art, it was hard to believe that it wasn't a real film rather than a computerized rendering.

Andrew

 

[barq]

I like good special effects, but I think they can be used to cover up other weaknesses in a film. See for example anything directed by Michael Bay.

 

[Maz]

Not special effects as such, but modern animated films are stunning. The first part of Wall-E, when he was trundling around on the deserted Earth was a masterpiece of the art, it was hard to believe that it wasn't a real film rather than a computerized rendering.

I thoroughly enjoyed that film. Like you say, the first half was stunning rendering.