“More is more” seems to be Hollywood’s motto when it comes to the use of computer-generated imagery. For the movement’s poster boy, look no further than last weekend’s top-grossing film “Transformers: Age of Extinction.” The giant robot flick cost over $200 million to make, with a sizable chunk of which going to special effects. Some analysts are predicting that the Michael Bay blockbuster is on track to net $1 billion by the end of the summer. Critics, though, aren’t so enthused, calling the film’s over-reliance on CGI gratuitous and mind-numbing.

This weekend, audiences will be feted with another CGI-laden piece of entertainment in the form of “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.” Overall the franchise’s getting a lot of positive buzz, but some moviegoers apparently prefer the original incarnation, circa the late ‘60s, starring Charlton Heston, in which the apes were mere actors wearing monkey suits (as opposed to actors wearing motion-capture suits) because, in going for the ultimate in verisimilitude, the remake calls too much attention to its own digital pizzazz. 

But not every film that employs CGI suffers from its own unwieldy ambition. There are those, like Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” or Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” which incorporate CGI and motion capture into the storytelling seamlessly. Instead of upstaging the plot, these films use those nifty tools to service it.

Which films do you think use CGI well, and which not so well?

Guests:

Charles Solomon, animation film critic for KPCC and Indiewire Animation Scoop

Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and producer and host for IGN’s DigiGods.com

Claudia Puig, film critic for KPCC and USA today