Top 10 Worst CGI in Star Wars Movies
#10: The Casino Chase
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“Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi” (2017) The recent “Star Wars” sequels utilized more practical effects than their prequel predecessors, but this didn’t mean that these films were completely bereft of embarrassing CGI. Case in point? 2017’s “The Last Jedi” featured one cringe-worthy scene that is still discussed by fans today. We’re speaking, of course, about that infamous chase scene that takes place on Canto Bight, a casino planet. Computer-generated images of Finn and Rose ride atop a creature called a Fathier, the racing of which is sort of analogous to large greyhounds in the real world. The sequence just doesn’t work, and bogs down a section of the movie that was already rather pointless, in the first place.
#9: The Droid Factory
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“Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” (2002) The phrase “looks like a video game” is one you might hear more than once throughout this list. This is thanks primarily to the standard of quality so often seen by computer-generated effects within the “Star Wars” prequels. The second film, “Attack of the Clones,” may be the most flagrant offender, with this sequence in the Droid Factory coming across, you guessed it, more like a video game level than anything remotely tense or exciting. The scene is supposed to put Padme and Anakin in real danger, but the stakes never feel real, and the CGI images of the droid machinery are adequately rendered at best, and embarrassingly poor at worst. This scene was better left to the cutting room floor.
#8: Shaak Picnic
“Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” (2002) We’re sticking around with “Attack of the Clones” for the time being. Call us gluttons for punishment? Many have criticized this film for its ham-handled romance plot, and they’re right to do so. However, let us not forget how bad the CGI was during these scenes, as well. One particularly offending example was when Anakin is tasked to ride a beast called a Shaak while enjoying a picnic with Padme. First off, it must be said that the concept art for these Shaaks was actually quite cool and imaginative, as evidenced by some archival “behind the scenes” home video footage. The final product, though, was so poorly rendered that we can scarcely believe anyone at Lucasfilm was deluded enough into giving this the green light.
#7: The Sarlacc Pit
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“Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” (1983) The original “Star Wars” trilogy sadly wasn’t immune to retroactive CGI tinkering, a fact that continues to upset fans so many years after George Lucas and crew worked their… we’re not going to use the word “magic,” but… something else. The Sarlacc Pit scene in “Return of the Jedi” was given some extra tentacles and a worthless CGI mouth that looked like something rejected from the “Little Shop of Horrors.” It’s just a glaringly obvious bit of trickery that adds nothing to the scene, and looks like complete, hot garbage to boot. Was it any wonder Boba Fett was able to make it out of the Sarlacc alive?
#6: The Battle of Naboo
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“Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” (1999) Hey, care for another video game cutscene disguised as a monumental moment in cinema? No? Well, too bad, because George Lucas was going to give it to you, anyway. This climactic battle sequence from “The Phantom Menace” was supposed to present some gravitas, some real stakes during the Battle of Naboo. Sadly, the end results were more laughable than thrilling. This is thanks to a number of poorly executed CGI moments, including Trade Federation ships that are underwhelming, to say the least. The backgrounds aren’t rendered much better, and the whole sequence is artificial to a detrimental extreme. Some of these effects may’ve been impressive in 1999, but now the battle fails to engage its audience in nearly every respect.
#5: Jar Jar’s Tongue
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“Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” (1999) One key aspect of convincing CGI is how the real-life actors are able to interact with their computer-generated counterparts. When it works, the effect appears seamless, and we’re able to give in to the world that’s laid out for us. When it doesn’t, such as with Jar Jar Binks in “The Phantom Menace,” you have a glaring distraction that succeeds in doing the exact opposite. Jar Jar’s tongue is particularly disarming on a number of occasions. Liam Neeson’s excitement level at having to interact with Binks at the dinner table is palpably low, while the scene where Jar Jar’s tongue goes numb makes us want to burn out our eyes with a lightsaber.
#4; A Wonky Hutt
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“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” (1977) We actually understand the reasoning behind this scene from “A New Hope,” just not in the final execution. George Lucas shot a deleted scene with a human actor, Declan Mulholland, as a stand-in for what he hoped at the time could be a special effects Jabba in post-production. Technology being what it was in the late seventies, the scene was scrapped, only to be re-inserted for the 1997 Special Edition home video release. The Jabba effect was rendered yet again in 2004, although, if we’re being honest? Both of them look terrible, and Harrison Ford’s interaction with the wonky Hutt is strained, strange and absolutely extraneous to need. This scene was better left forgotten.
#3: Sy Snootles
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“Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” (1983) Who doesn’t love the Max Rebo Band? This house band for Jabba the Hutt thrilled fans of the original “Return of the Jedi” with their performance of “Lapti Nek,” a disco-infused funk tune with lyrics that translated from Huttese into the title, “Fancy Man.” The revamped “Jedi” Special Editions, however, jettisoned this tune in favor of a dreadful song-and-dance number, ahem, “Jedi Rocks.” Music wasn’t the only thing that was changed, either, as the comically cute and endearing creature design of Rebo’s lead singer, Sy Snootles, was saddled with an atrocious CGI replacement. Her rendering makes us embarrassed for everyone involved, while the song itself has bad backup dancing, bad CGI accompaniment… it’s just bad, bad, BAD, and we never want to hear it again.
#2: Young Leia & Grand Moff Tarkin
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“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016) We appreciate the effort that the folks behind “Rogue One” put into this next entry, we really do. We’ll also fully admit to giving in to nostalgia just a bit when we first saw CGI renderings of a young Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin. Cushing’s CGI scenes were particularly interesting since the actor had long since left us by the time “Rogue One” hit theaters in 2016. However, the film used Tarkin as a character a bit too much, diluting the impact of what could’ve been a unique cameo from the great beyond. Meanwhile, Leia’s CGI suffers from a severe lack of emotion, and the sort of cold, dead eyes that we also have from compiling this list.
#1: Mos Eisley
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“Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope” (1977) Viewers of a certain age will likely remember with great fondness the first time they watched the Mos Eisley Cantina scene from “A New Hope,” and how it sparked their imaginations with wild creature designs that imbued the cantina with a sense of mystery and danger. Imagine, then, how those people reacted when not only the cantina, but the entire Spaceport, seemed to be overrun with needless (and poorly rendered) CGI effects? A quick comparison online shows how the scene from 2011 Blu-Ray version runs noticeably longer, thanks to shots of Luke and Obi-Wan’s speeder pulling in, and the random creatures carelessly inserted into the background, with little attention paid to scale or depth of field. Worst of all? NO WOLFMAN! Justice for Lak Sivrak!
