Now, of course, you CGI up those characters so that they fall somewhere between naturalistic and totally fake. In a word: creepy. Sonic in the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie is the most recent character to suffer this uncanny valley fate. He has humanoid teeth, and people are creeped out.
Good morning to absolutely everyone and everything other than live action Sonic the Hedgehogs creepy human teeth xx pic.twitter.com/yJX6WPW7Li - Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) April 30, 2019
Therapist: Sonic with human teeth isn't real, he can't hurt you Sonic with human teeth: pic.twitter.com/hOBy6QFLVK - murphy, (@sunyshorecity) April 30, 2019
The legendary (and now weirdly toothy ) hedgehog joins a long list of classic characters transformed into a robotic mess by the still-not-magical magic of CGI. Heres a rundown of the worst offenses-to our cinematic sensibilities and our childhood memories.
Papa Smurf in The Smurfs (2011)
Look, Papa Smurf was always basically an autocratic cult leader assigning immutable identities to a sycophantic population of white-uniformed lemmings. But the movie took his cheerily sinister vibe to disturbingly low heights.
The conductor in Polar Express (2004)
When the classic Chris Van Allsburg picture book was made into a movie, the rendering of Tom Hanks as a dead-eyed conductor got a ton of criticism. Its aged pretty well though, if only because it has such a primitive feel (which was intentional) that it feels like more of an illustration come to life than a human being that doesnt have full control over his smile muscles.
Scooby in Scooby-Doo (2002)
Look, it was 2002. It would be better now. But come on. Scooby looks like a ghost Great Dane, weirdly out of focus. The next one will likely be a lot more real-to the extent any CGI can be. (Note that this entry contains not one Ruh-roh! joke.)
The Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland (2010)
One problem with CGIing living beings is that sometimes the details get too right. The naturalistic eyes that white rabbits tend to have make it look it look like Alices rabbit has both pink eye and a hangover.
Pikachu in Detective Pikachu (2019)
It speaks!
Garfield in Garfield the Movie (2004)
Just look at this scene. Youve got an actual dog and a CGId cat. No suspension of disbelief is possible when you cant help but compare a CGI rendering of a quadrupedal domesticated pet with an actual quadrupedal domesticated pet.
Homer Simpson in Treehouse of Horror VI (1995)
Homer got the CGI treatment in the last scene of the annual Halloween episode.
Pikachu in Detective Pikachu (2019)
It speaks!