The usual:
King Kong
Gollum
Davy Jones
Cloverfield
Starship Troopers.

I have to say, Jurassic Park's T-Rex and the T-1000 from T2 are over-rated (hate that word, but it actually fits here). The T-Rex is an animatronic puppet for most of its appearance and when it is CGI, it is in the dark or rain and very brief. The T-1000 is barely a CGI creation at all. Most of the effects are practical effects and they just morph between them. That is, they had actual chromed puppets in various poses and stages of transformation that were physically present on the set and when there was some kind of transformation, like pouring into the helicopter or being shot to hell with the guns, they just morphed between models. Unlike most CGI creations that are entirely CGI, like King Kong or Gollum, the T-1000 and the T-Rex barely even count as CGI characters.

I think you have it backwards. It's in very clear daylight when it attacked the Gallimimuses and during the ending money shot at the visitor center. It's the animatronic that's actually in the dark shots and rain.

Jar-Jar Binks!

1. King Kong
2. Gollum
3. Davy Jones
4. T-Rex
5. The Witch King's flying steed in LOTR: ROTK

That stupid purple monkey from LOST IN SPACE or David Schwimmer

More pics of some listed.

Cloverfield Monster


Optimus Prime


David Schwimmer

The T-800 character in Terminator Salvation. Not necessary my favorite from a character stand point (can't touch the original) but the life like recreation of an 80's Arnold is impressive and downright scary.

It boggles the mind how many people think David Schwimmer is a live-action actor.

I'm pretty sure that ILM did that one.

ILM created David Schwimmer? I have a new appreciation for their technical skills.

The realism they achieved, even back in 1994...

I give honorable mention to:




I can discount what I feel is not life-like (ie. Transformers). Or else I would have to credit Titanic and Apollo 13 as realistic.

Really? Transformers has some of the best CGI out there.

best use of CGI in the history of the medium...

Probably not considered a character, but the ship from Flight of the Navigator was amazing for its time.

Damn, someone beat me to Joan Rivers....

Anyways, I'm real impressed with stuff from over 10 years ago that still looks amazing and can compare to things of today. That's why the dinosaurs, specifically the T-Rex, from Jurassic Park is just amazing to me.

Not full CGI, but the work they do on Voldemort's face is pretty impressive...

EDIT: By the way, I didn't know Davey Jones was entirely CGI, that's pretty crazy.

Wouldn't Gollum lose points for changing appearance from Fellowship to the Two Towers?

In terms of what? Mechanical Autobots and Decepticons? I have a hard time giving that type of character animation the props it probably deserves because it's not life-like. There's nothing to compare it to, whereas photorealism of skin and/or fur compared to real things is IMO harder to replicate.

There both different. Optimus Prime is composed of 10,108 different moving pieces. You can't tell me that that wouldn't be tough to animate. Also, the way the light reflects off robot's is very difficult because the robot's are pretty much big reflective surfaces. Plus, your right, it's not organic. That makes it even harder because ILM has to try to create facial expresses that make us feel as if this shiny metal robot has a soul. King Kong was incredible, so was Gollum. But honestly I think Optimus Prime would be even harder to animate then those characters. Davy Jones is another story........

The chase on the freeway in Transformers was pretty damn good CGI, and I hate CGI.

Why?

It's generally overused.

The baby in The Hangover was a pretty good CGI character.

I don't know if it's just because I'm exhausted but I nearly pissed myself when I scrolled down and got the David Schwimmer picture. Can't stop laughing.