Nowadays, CGI is something that can really elevate a story. But everyone’s seen a film with terrible visual effects, right? And most of the time, you can kind of let it slide. But in some cases, it goes beyond that, and you can’t just say it was a bad-looking effect. Here, we’re talking about those scenes (or sometimes the entire movie) that feel like they barely spent any time in post-production and look more like a rough draft than a finished product. And once that happens, it becomes impossible to take the movie seriously. The biggest issue is that this usually doesn’t come from small productions — it happens in big-budget projects with real potential.
Videos by ComicBook.com
When the visuals look poorly rendered or just plain weird, the magic disappears, and the whole experience takes a hit. So here are some movies that should’ve worked on every level, but were completely sabotaged by bad CGI, to the point where they basically became a joke.
7) The Flash
The superhero genre relies heavily on CGI, so when a movie drops the ball in that department, it becomes really hard to defend. In The Flash, we follow Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) as he travels back in time to prevent his mother’s death, accidentally messing up reality and running into alternate versions of familiar heroes. And for a story like this, we’re talking about a film built around speed, time distortion, and the multiverse. So if the effects look artificial, the entire movie starts falling apart, right? And here, that’s exactly what happens. Some scenes genuinely look like video game cutscenes instead of something from a big-budget blockbuster.
And the worst part? It’s not just one bad moment; it’s a recurring issue that shows up exactly when the movie is supposed to impress. The premise of The Flash is great, and for a few minutes, you might even think DC had a real win on their hands at the time. But once the film goes all-in on spectacle, it doesn’t deliver at all. Director Andy Muschietti even claimed the distorted look of certain scenes was an artistic choice meant to reflect Flash’s perspective at high speed, but that explanation didn’t convince anyone. It still just looks weird.
6) The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
This is one of the most classic examples of what bad CGI really means. The final chapter of the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn – Part 2, had a responsibility to go big: emotional, dramatic, and a little over-the-top (because that’s basically part of the package). But no one was prepared for what actually stole the spotlight: baby Renesmee. In the franchise’s conclusion, Bella (Kristen Stewart) has adjusted to vampire life and, alongside Edward (Robert Pattinson), tries to protect their daughter when the Volturi interpret the child’s existence as a threat and decide to attack. The problem is that Renesmee is a whole different case, because she doesn’t even look like outdated CGI — she looks straight-up unsettling.
Until Renesmee grows up and is played by Mackenzie Foy, it’s hard to take her seriously. Instead of using a real child for those early scenes, the movie went with a digitally generated baby that ended up deep in uncanny valley territory, looking completely artificial. People talked about that element for years, even though Breaking Dawn – Part 2 is still remembered for its action sequence. It’s one of those movies you remember as being iconic back then, but the second it crosses your mind, you also remember the CGI baby and cringe a little.
5) The Mummy Returns
The second film in one of the best franchises cinema has ever had, The Mummy Returns is fun, full of adventure, and has that classic matinee vibe Hollywood used to do so well. But then the movie reaches its final stretch and hits you with one of the most infamous CGI moments ever: the Scorpion King (Dwayne Johnson). The story follows Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) as they try to stop ancient forces from rising again, while the film builds up this legendary warrior and conqueror as the ultimate threat. But there’s no defending it, because even for the early 2000s, he looks like a character pulled straight out of a PlayStation game (and not even a good one).
The Scorpion King is supposed to feel intimidating and dangerous, but when he finally shows up in The Mummy Returns, it’s basically just embarrassing. It’s almost funny, but in that uncomfortable way where you can’t believe someone watched the final render and thought it was ready for the finished movie. And the worst part is that this was meant to be the big finale, the moment the film ends on a high note. Instead, it turns into a visual anticlimax so memorable that years later, you end up remembering the bad CGI more than the entire story.
4) Green Lantern
If there’s one movie that feels like it was sabotaged from every angle, it’s Green Lantern. It had a rough reception, barely got any real praise, and even Ryan Reynolds himself has made it clear he’s not exactly a fan. And a huge part of that comes down to the movie’s own visual decisions. In the story, we meet Hal Jordan (Reynolds), a pilot who receives a powerful ring and joins the Green Lantern Corps, only to end up facing Parallax (Clancy Brown), a fear-based cosmic entity. Did it have potential? Absolutely. But the CGI isn’t just bad, as it’s used in a way that makes everything look weirdly plastic.
And making Hal’s entire suit fully CGI was such a massive misstep: it has no weight, no texture, and it never looks real for even a second. You watch it and get the feeling the character isn’t actually part of the world; he’s basically floating on top of it. Plus, space looks generic, and the villain comes off like a big cloud of smoke with zero impact. Green Lantern ends up feeling like an unfinished movie, and way too poorly made to be taken seriously next to the genre’s better films. Honestly, it’s not even in the same conversation.
3) The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl definitely had its moment with the target audience back then, mostly because the film, overall, is really fun. But once you grow up and actually take a closer look, it’s impossible to miss how rough the visuals are. The story follows Max (Cayden Boyd), a kid who creates an imaginary world and eventually discovers that his heroes, Sharkboy (Taylor Lautner) and Lavagirl (Taylor Dooley), are real and need his help to save their planet. But the entire movie feels like a children’s project that aimed way too high and crashed straight into its technical limits. The CGI isn’t just dated, but visually aggressive.
Everything looks artificial: the sets, the characters, the textures, and that feeling that the entire movie was shot in front of a green screen and fixed later (except the “later” never really fixed anything). The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl may still work for younger viewers, but it also looks like a digital collage that never got properly polished. And that matters because the whole point is for you to get swept away by its fantasy world. But it’s hard to feel any wonder when everything looks fake and stiff. In this case, the CGI didn’t just age — it aged loudly.
2) Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
Yes, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is a ’90s movie, so in theory, you could cut it some slack, right? But watching this is a lot, since this might be the film where you keep asking yourself if you’re watching the final cut or just a rough draft. The story continues the events of its predecessor, with the heroes trying to stop Shao Kahn (Brian Thompson) from invading Earth and breaking the rules of the Mortal Kombat tournament. But the movie completely loses itself trying to cram in dozens of characters and references in such a short runtime, and it leans on CGI like a crutch to make up for the lack of actual storytelling. In other words, it feels rushed.
In Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, you get digital creatures that barely move properly, ridiculous transformations, and visuals that kill any attempt at tension or seriousness. For a movie based on a game franchise that literally built its reputation on fatalities, monstrous fighters, and heavy-hitting combat, the execution feels like a betrayal of the source material, honestly. So it’s not just one ugly, dated effect — it’s the kind of bad CGI that spreads through the entire movie, destroying the mood and draining every fight of its impact. Everything starts feeling like an unintentional parody.
1) Cats
Who remembers Cats? Probably not many people. And if they do, it’s always because of the visuals, since it basically became a meme the moment people saw what it looked like. The whole idea was to bring the famous musical to the big screen, following Victoria (Francesca Hayward), a young cat who gets taken in by the Jellicle Cats, a group that spends the night sharing their stories until one of them is chosen to be reborn. The problem is that, to pull this off, they took real actors and turned them into “realistic humanoid cats” using CGI — and the result was such a disaster that it completely erased any chance of the audience actually buying into the story.
Cats is the uncanny valley on hard mode. Not even the music can compete with what you’re forced to stare at on screen. What makes it even more frustrating is that the cast is very strong, and the original material clearly had an audience (even if it may not have been meant to work in movie form). The CGI takes over everything and turns the entire film into the ultimate example of how good intentions don’t mean anything if the execution is questionable. You can respect the ambition all you want, but if the visuals are off-putting, people are going to check out immediately.
What do you think about the CGI in these movies? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
